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The 2024 Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Championship got underway on Sunday with a quartet of matches.
The event is being hosted on the campus of Southeast Missouri State, the 2024 OVC regular season champions. It is the first time the Redhawks have hosted the event since 2021.
Tickets are $10 per day at the door, or $8 when bought via advance purchase online.
Lindenwood, who is reclassifying to Division I, is eligible to win the OVC Tournament Championship. Should the Lions win the tournament title, the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament shall be awarded to the tournament runner-up.
Fans can watch the entire OVC Volleyball Championship on ESPN+.
#2 Lindenwood 3, #7 SIUE 0
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#3 Tennessee Tech 3, #6 Little Rock 0
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#1 Southeast Missouri 3, #8 Tennessee State 1
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#4 Morehead State 3, #5 Western Illinois 0
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#2 LINDENWOOD 3, #7 SIUE 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Lindenwood women's volleyball (21-10, 14-4 OVC) won their opening round matchup at the Ohio Valley Conference Championships with a 3-0 sweep over #7 SIUE (12-18, 7-11 OVC) on Sunday morning. The Lions had 45 kills during their opening match and held SIUE to a .172 hitting percentage.
Fifth-year senior Addy McAleer led the Lions against the Cougars after posting a team-high 12 kills while hitting .417. McAleer was second on the team in attempts and had only two errors on 24 attempts. As a team, Lindenwood hit .269 on 104 total attempts with 17 errors.
Rebecca Janke played a big role in the middle scoring 11 kills on 25 attempts while hitting .320. The middle blocker also led the defense was three total blocks including two solo. As a team, Lindenwood had six total blocks including two from Ashley Geluck who had five kills as well.
Allie Otten paced the offense as the OVC Setter of the Year helped the Lions to 45 total kills. Otten tallied 33 assists while picking up 11 digs for her 23rd of the season. She also had four kills on seven attempts. Autumn Bax added six kills while Nyah Wilson added another seven.
Dana Grib helped Lindenwood to 44 digs as she collected a team-high 12 digs. Starting libero Jessie Seidel also had eight digs while adding three assists. Lexi Menne posted a season-high three aces from behind the service line as the Lions had six aces vs. the Cougars.
During the first set, Lindenwood trailed by as many as three points (13-16 SIUE) before coming back to take the first set by a final score of 25-19. McAleer came out swinging in the first set with five kills on 10 attempts. Lindenwood ended the set on a 7-2 run to claim the first point of the match. Six different Lions had a kill in set one.
Lindenwood opened up a 2-0 lead during the second set after the Lions won 25-20. The Lions again trailed by three points in the second set, but took their first lead at 16-15 with a Janke kill. Janke added four kills in the set while McAleer continued her hot start with six kills. LU had 18 kills in the set while hitting a match-high .353.
The Quarterfinal match came to a close on Sunday with a Lindenwood 25-21 set three victory. With the set tied at 16-16, Lindenwood went on a 3-0 run to take a 19-16 lead. The Lions never looked back holding SIUE to a .150 hitting percentage in the third. Menne had two of her aces in the set while Janke added another four kills.
#3 TENNESSEE TECH 3, #6 LITTLE ROCK 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - A complete team effort, led by some remarkable performances from the rookies, was all the Tennessee Tech volleyball team needed to claim its first Ohio Valley Conference Tournament victory since 2015 Sunday afternoon, completing a 3-0 sweep over No. 6 seed Little Rock.
The No. 3 Golden Eagles (24-7) topped the Trojans (16-16) for the first time on the year, avenging two, four-set home losses to Little Rock earlier in the regular season to advance to the semifinals of the OVC Tournament. Tech will square off with No. 2 Lindenwood on Monday in a 2:00 p.m. CT tilt at Houck Field House on the campus of No. 1 Southeast Missouri in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
The triumph marked the team's 24th victory of the year, the most by the Cookeville crew in a single season since the 1983 squad set a program record with 31 victories. It also represented the purple and gold's eighth consecutive win and fifth sweep in a row.
As a unit, Tech hit .273 with 47 kills and nine service aces, finding a way to take the big point when it was needed throughout the match. A pair of Golden Eagle freshmen led the way on Sunday, with All-OVC Second Teamer Alayna Pierce piling up a match-high 14 kills.
The Genoa, Ill. native added six digs, two aces, and a block, all while hitting an absurd .520 from her outside hitter position. Fellow rookie Mallory Jenkins smashed .588 in the match, compiling 11 terminations and two blocks while making just one attack error. Joining the freshmen fun, defensive specialist Katie Green kicked in a pair of service aces in the tilt for good measure.
Senior outside and newly minted OVC Player of the Year Madolyn Isringhausen registered 11 kills of her own while securing her 11th double-double of the season with 12 digs. The Edwardsville, Ill. native became the Golden Eagle program's all-time career leader for points on the day, passing Rachel Melchiorre (1994-97) with 1,984.0 in her Tech tenure.
Fellow senior outside Bella Powell tacked on eight terminations of her own while chipping in seven digs.
Fresh off her second nod to the All-OVC First Team of her career, junior setter Jordan Karlen was special for the purple and gold, dishing out 40 assists with three more service aces. Racking up 12 digs, she earned her 17th double-double of the year. She also passed Sharon Anderson (2013-16) on Tech's career assists list, moving into fourth with 3,414 to her name.
Senior libero McKenna Young kept her hot play rolling into the opening round of the OVC Tournament, compiling a match-high 19 digs to go with three assists. Senior defensive specialist Aleeya Jones made her presence felt with nine digs and two aces off the bench.
The purple and gold used 20 kills to get the job done in a marathon opening set, staving off a late rally by the Trojans. Trailing 24-22, Little Rock rattled off three straight points to take a 25-24 lead for set point. Tech answered three consecutive set point situations to tie the match, finally breaking through for a gutsy, 29-27 win thanks to back-to-back kills by Jenkins.
In set two, the Golden Eagles erupted for a tone-setting, 8-0 run to break open a 13-12 edge to a 21-12 advantage. Tech proceeded to stave up an impressive comeback bid by the Trojans, who closed the gap to two before the purple and gold finished things off for a 25-21 win.
#1 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 3, #8 TENNESSEE STATE 1
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - #1 Southeast Missouri (19-10, 15-3 OVC) advanced to the seminfal round of the 2024 Ohio Valley Conference Volleyball Tournament with a 3-1 victory over #8 Tennessee State (10-22, 6-12 OVC) on Sunday evening from Houck Field House.
The Redhawks advanced with scores of 25-21, 16-25, 25-23, and 25-19 to advance to the semifinal round behind 19 kills from Lucy Arndt. Arndt finished with a .216 hitting-percentage on 51 attacks.
Arndt finished with 16 digs, the second most on the squad, as the OVC First Team selection recorded her 17thdouble-double of the season.
Rightside hitter Abby Johnson joined the 1,000 kills club recording 10 kills in the match. Johnson recorded her eighth kill of the match to reach 1,000. She now sits at 1,002 for her career after tonight's match.
As a team, SEMO hit .252 with 61 kills compared to .236 and 53 kills from TSU. Ramiri Gardner, who returned to the court on Sunday, rounded out the top hitters from the match. Gardner finished with 10 kills, no errors, on 15 total attacks for a .667 hitting-percentage.
SEMO was outhit in just the second set by TSU as the Redhawks started the first set on fire, hitting .382 to just .135 from the Tigers.
Ohio Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year Nina Schuberth lived up to her title in Sunday's quarterfinal round. The sophomore finished with a team-high 18 digs and did not record a single reception error on the evening (1.000, 13 attempts).
Freshman Megan Holder dished out a team-high 27 assists, followed by Kennedey Johnson with 19 as the duo combined for 46-of-55 assists from SEMO on the night.
The Redhawks won the battle at the net, edging the Tigers in total blocks by a 12-10 advantage. Freshman Alaina Lester led the team with three block assists and two solo blocks. Six different Redhawks recorded a block in the match.
#4 MOREHEAD STATE 3, #5 WESTERN ILLINOIS 0
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Sophomore Amelia Nott slammed a season-high 13 kills along with three service aces and five blocks to lead Morehead State to a 3-0 sweep over Western Illinois Sunday night in Cape Girardeau, Mo., in the opening round of the Ohio Valley Conference volleyball tournament.
Junior M.E. Hargan matched Nott with 13 kills for match honors, hitting .216.
The first set was a back-and-forth affair, with both teams going on extended runs. The teams were tied at 15-15 and Morehead State went on a 7-0 run to make it 23-13. The teams traded points, and then WIU went on a 7-0 run of their own to tie the set at 23-23. The Eagles prevailed in the first set 26-24 on a block by Irene Wogenstahl and Sydney Wyman.
Morehead State cracked opened the second set with an 8-0 run early in the set to go from down 3-4 to an 11-4 lead. Morehead State cruised to a 25-15 set win.
In the third set, Western Illinois grabbed an early 9-3 edge; then Morehead State went on a 7-1 run to tie at 10-10. The Eagles claimed six of the last eight points to clinch the match.
Elizabeth Zieglar and Brittany Wulf led Western Illinois with seven kills each for Western Illinois which ends their season at 17-13 (11-7 OVC).