The Lindenwood women’s volleyball team started off their Division I campaign with a bang, bringing down Canisius College in three sets then downing Western Illinois in four just few hours later.
“What a historic day for Lindenwood Volleyball! We came into today with all the uncertainty that comes with the start of the season, and the obvious questions with the move to D1,” said Head Coach Will Condon. “We just did a great job of putting all those distractions aside and played hard, played as a team and played good volleyball. Every point was hard and our willingness to grind and move on from mistakes was impressive to see. It was a total team effort with the players on the court and our bench helping keep people engaged and positive. We know we have a lot of matches left to play and it’s not going to be easy. But this team has really embraced the challenge. It’s a great day to be a Lion!”
Against Canisius, the Lions outscored the Griffins 25-19 in the first, 25-17 in the second, and a nail-biting 25-23 in the third set. Big numbers were put up by Taylor Gentemann and Nyah Wilson, who led the charge with 11 kills each. Wilson also partnered with Jessie Siedel for the most digs of the match, each recording 12 apiece. Allie Otten contributed 30 set assists to lead the way for the day, playing a key role in the Lions’ offense.
Freshman Kennedy Femmer made her collegiate debut and tied Rebecca Janke for the most block assists with four each while also knocking down three kills in her first sets as a Lion.
During the Western Illinois match, Lindenwood fell in a close 25-23 loss, but came back even stronger, winning the next three sets 25-21, 25-23 and 25-17 to come out on top in the end. Wilson and Janke found themselves atop the leaderboard again with 14 kills apiece. Gentemann was close behind with 13 total, while Madelyn Dement was also in double digits with 12 total kills.
Defensive responsibility was well distributed throughout the team, starting with Siedel’s impressive 24 total digs. Otten put up 18 total digs, while Wilson recorded 12 digs and led the way with 23 total receptions.Karli Eckert was right on her heels with 22 total receptions, and Siedel tallied 17 receptions on the day. Janke led the way again in the block assists category, tallying six total against the Bulldogs.
Up next, the Lions will round out the Purdue Fort Wayne Invitational tomorrow against the hosts themselves, the PFW Mastadons, at 11:00 am EST in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
The post Women’s Volleyball Sits at 2-0 After First Day of Division I Matches – Lindenwood University Athletics first appeared on Eatory.my.id.
