Lindenwood University Athletics

ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Lindenwood women's volleyball team (23-3, 13-1 OVC) won their last home regular season match of the season by a score of 3-0 against Tennessee State (0-25, 0-14 OVC) on Friday evening. The Lions celebrated Senior Night prior to the match, with five athletes - Alayna Rudebeck, Anna Kraemer, Jade Roth, Dana Grib, and Ashley Geluck - being recognized. 

Lindenwood started out the opening set strong on an 8-2 run before TSU clawed back to make it 9-6. The Lions were exceptional with their early serves, racking up 5 aces in the opening set, with Rudebeck accounting for two of them. Despite the Tigers keeping the score close, the Lions took the opening set 25-18. Senior Dana Grib had 4 digs to start out the night.

The second set saw both teams tied at 7 before the home team grabbed the lead at 15-11 going into the media timeout. The Lions used the media timeout to fuel a 10-2 stretch to end the second set. Lindenwood recorded a .327 attack percentage through two sets with Lauren Ortwerth leading the way with 7 kills.

A combination of killer offense and great defense led Lindenwood to a dominant third set victory of 25-12, with the Lions hitting .395 in the frame while limiting the Tigers to a -.085 hitting percentage. It secured the Lions' second consecutive sweep and extended their winning streak to eight matches. 

Kaci Johnson had a great night with 28 assists as the Lions hit an efficient .346 as a team. 

Lauren Ortwerth led the team with 10 kills on 23 attempts with her ending her night with a .304 hitting percentage.

All five seniors featured heavily in the match, with Ashley Geluck tallying seven kills while Anna Kraemer and Jade Roth recorded six apiece. Meanwhile, Dana Grib registered a team-leading eight digs while Alayna Rudebeck posted seven digs with a career-high five service aces. 

Quotable
"We asked them to serve tough and they responded." said Lindenwood head coach Will Condon of his team's performance. "I thought we did a better job of passing and getting into our offense, and the flow looked better. We were able to put some significant runs together and get separation."

"I thought our seniors did a great job of stepping up and shining in their moment. With all the emotions that can be hard, so it was good to see them stay focused. This is a great group of seniors that have contributed a great deal to the program. They took a risk on us when we were early in the reclassification process. With a lot of hard work they have done some amazing things in a hard situation."

Next Up
Lindenwood concludes the regular season with a trip to Western Illinois next week. Match one is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 17th with match two following at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday the 18th.