The University of Southern Indiana volleyball team defeated Lindenwood University in Great Lakes Valley Conference play, 26-24, 17-25, 25-14 and 28-26 on Saturday afternoon.
The Screaming Eagles (9-10, 3-4 GLVC) held their opponent to a .062 hitting percentage thanks to 15 blocks as a unit, with senior middle hitter Elexis Coleman (Joliet, Illinois) and sophomore right side hitter Sidney Hegg (Menasha, Wisconsin) each tying career highs with seven blocks apiece.
The Lions (8-8, 1-6 GLVC) kept the USI attack at bay with 92 digs to pull the Eagles’ hitting clip down to .108 for the match.
Freshman outside hitter Leah Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois) led the Eagles with 14 kills and added 13 digs for her third double-double of the season. Freshman libero Audrey Crowder (Avon, Indiana) continued her momentum from Thursday night with a USI-leading 19 digs.
USI Volleyball heads north to Indianapolis for the Midwest Region Crossover Friday. More information on the Crossover, including pairings, will be available at GoUSIEagles.com as soon as possible.
First Set: USI 26, Lindenwood 24
The Eagles and Lions combined for 11 tied scores and eight lead changes on their way to extra points in the opening game.
Coleman and Anderson combined for seven kills and three blocks. Anderson also collected six of her 13 digs.
Second Set: Lindenwood 25, USI 17
The Lions stole the second set despite the Eagles stuffing four Lindenwood attacks. Conversely, USI was charged with eight attack errors to just nine kills as a unit, seven of which were unforced.
Four Eagles tallied a pair of kills in the frame: Coleman, Anderson, Hegg and senior outside hitter Lindsey Stose (Elkhart, Indiana). Coleman also added another three blocks to her total.
Third Set: USI 25, Lindenwood 14
The Eagles exploded out of the gate, then dropped a 15-6 run on the Lions following a timeout at 10-8 to snag the third set.
USI put up a wall at the net, racking up six team blocks, with Hegg collecting five and senior middle blocker Amanda Jung (Belleville, Illinois) tallying four. The Eagles also posted a .233 hitting clip in the third, the highest by either team in any set.
Anderson and freshman right side hitter Katherine Koch (Bellevillle, Illinois) each posted three kills in the early portion of the frame, complimenting Jung and Hegg’s pair of blocks heading into the 10-8 USI timeout.
Fourth Set: USI 28, Lindenwood 26
The Lions gave USI everything they had in the final frame, including a whopping 16 kills to USI’s 12; both figures represented the two highest team outputs of any set.
Crowder found eight of her 19 digs in the final frame as Lindenwood was able to avoid USI’s dominance at the net late in the match.
Anderson led the Eagles with five kills in the fourth. USI overcame a tremendous seven-for-nine attack effort from Lindenwood’s Kat Finnerty, who made her first appearance in the third, then came off the bench again in the final game.
