PEORIA, Ill. – The Lindenwood women's volleyball team (10-2) picked up their fifth consecutive win with a 3-2 victory over Bradley (5-7) in the CEFCU Invitational finale on Saturday afternoon. Three Lions finished with double digit kills as LU improved their record to 2-0 in five set matches this season.
A strong start gave Lindenwood an early 6-1 lead in the opening frame but following an 11-5 Bradley run that put the Braves in front, the Lions were unable to recover and dropped the set by a score of 25-19.
Susanna Beretti and
Lauren Ortwerth led the Lions with four kills apiece in the set.
Bradley were unable to sustain their momentum in set two, briefly taking an early lead before a 14-3 Lindenwood run sent the match into the media timeout with the Lions holding a 15-6 advantage before coasting to 25-16 win.. The Lions kept things going in set three, taking a 25-18 win behind five more kills from
Lauren Ortwerth, who grew her match total to 10 terminations.
Lindenwood was unable to close out the match in set four, losing grip of a four-point lead in the frame and eventually dropping the set by a score of 25-22. However, the Lions refused to be denied and pulled out a 15-13 win in back and forth fifth set, closing out the frame on a 5-1 run to extend their win streak to five matches.
Lauren Ortwerth led Lindenwood in the contest with 15 kills on a team-high .310 hitting percentage. It was the freshman's sixth time registering 10 or more digs in a match this season.
Susanna Beretti and
Autumn Bax also recorded double digit kills, with Beretti posting 14 and Bax collecting 12 terminations. Beretti also added 10 digs for her second double double of the weekend.
Kaci Johnson matched Beretti with 10 digs while handing out 48 assists, while
Alayna Rudebeck and
Mandy Lawson tied for the team lead with 11 digs.
Quotable
"I thought Bradley did a good job of changing their line up and keeping us adjusting. We were able to find ways to adapt and win three sets. Overall, I like that we were tested this weekend with three quality opponents. That will only benefit us going into conference play." -
Will Condon, Lindenwood Head Coach
Next Up
Lindenwood begins Ohio Valley Conference play next weekend at Morehead State. Match one is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. CT on Friday, September 25th with match two following on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. CT
