EVANSVILLE, Ind.—Sophomore outside hitter Leah Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois) racked up 13 kills, five aces and a .462 attacking percentage as University of Southern Indiana Volleyball cruised to a 25-13, 25-16, 25-22 victory over visiting Maryville University in its Great Lakes Valley Conference-opener at Screaming Eagles Arena Thursday night.
Anderson’s serving set the tone early in the contest as she had three aces in the first five points of the match as USI rolled out to an early 5-0 advantage.
USI (7-2, 1-0 GLVC) hit .333 and held the Saints to a negative .040 attacking percentage in the opening frame as it cruised to the 12-point win and one-set advantage. Anderson had just two kills in the opener but finished with four of her five aces to aid USI in the opening set.
The Eagles, winners of seven straight matches, used a 12-1 run in the second frame to establish control. Eight different players had a kill in the set, including five players with at least two kills; and senior setter Casey Cepicky (St. Louis, Missouri) tallied 13 of her 37 assists as USI took the nine-point victory in the second set, along with a two-game lead in the match.
Maryville (4-4, 0-1 GLVC) put up a fight in the third stanza, but Anderson’s eight kills and .727 attacking percentage, along with Cepicky’s 15 assists, proved to be too much for the Saints to overcome as USI earned the three-point win to clinch the match in three sets.
USI got kills from 10 different players in the match, with five players recording at least five kills. Freshman outside hitter Abby Weber (Fishers, Indiana) had eight kills, a .300 attacking percentage and eight digs, while Cepicky’s 37 assists helped the Eagles hit .305 as a team. The Eagles also got a match-high 16 digs from senior libero Callie Gubera (Thorntown, Indiana) as they held the Saints to a .108 team attacking percentage.
The Eagles return to action Saturday at 3 p.m. when they travel to Rolla, Missouri, to take on Missouri University of Science & Technology in a rematch of last season’s GLVC championship match.
