HENDERSON — After a tough road trip,
Audrey Orton and the Lady Lions returned to the Brewer Sports Center where Orton tallied career highs in both kills (19) and digs (22) in a 3-1 (25-16, 27-29, 25-20, 25-19) victory over the Bethel University Wildcats.
The opening set began strong for the Lady Lions (14-12, 2-6 MSC) with
Alyssa Austin's service ace giving the girls in maroon a 5-1 lead. Neither team would budge from that lead and never taking more than three straight points. The early lead was good enough for the 25-18 set victory after
Hope Breen and
Marija Milic's block was followed by one of Orton's big kills.
The second set was neck and neck for the entire set with Bethel (9-11, 3-5 MSC) and FHU drawing even on 10 separate occasions while trading leads seven different times. The Wildcats went on a late run to take a 19-17 lead, but three straight kills from Orton kept FHU in the set. A kill from
Iza Wos gave the Lady Lions the smallest of set points, but Bethel managed to force extra points in the set. FHU had three different set points that Bethel rallied back from until recording the necessary two-point lead to tie the match 1-1 with a 29-27 set win.
A fast start in the third set gave FHU a 12-6 lead after another Milic block, but the Wildcats rallied to score six unanswered points.Thankfully for FHU the cushion helped with Orton being joined by
Morgan Jackson will kills to extend the lead. Two Wildcat attacking errors gave the Lady Lions the 25-20 set win to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
FHU's front row took the lead in the fourth set with two different tandems recording blocks. First
Avery Young joined Milic before Breen and Wos teamed up for a rejection. The Wildcats pulled within one point, but again Orton had the hot hand to strike three kills. Milic and Austin joined forces to wrap the Mid-South Conference victory with service aces in the 25-19 set win and the 3-1 match victory.
Audrey Orton led all hitters with a career-high of 19 kills at a .261 clip. In addition to her offensive play, Orton pulled up a career-best 22 digs on the back row. Joining Orton were
Hope Breen with 12 kills,
Autumn Howard with 19 digs, and
Avery Young with 13 digs.
Becca Heineman and
Alyssa Austin teamed up with 24 and 22 assists, respectively.
Â
Up Next
The ladies will step out of conference play for a home doubleheader. First they will face the Rust (Miss.) College Bearcats on October 23 at 4:00 p.m. before battling the Mississippi University for Women Owls at 7:00 p.m.
