HENDERSON — Hosting their second match in as many days, the Freed-Hardeman University Lady Lions took the No. 25 Lindsey Wilson University Blue Raiders to four sets before falling 3-1 (25-19, 17-25, 25-16, 25-19) on Saturday.
Hope Breen picked up where she left off on Friday by recording an early kill for the Lady Lions (11-10, 0-4 MSC) before
Audrey Orton tallied back-to-back service aces to give FHU an 8-6 advantage. The squads kept the set close with
Morgan Jackson's kill tying the set 17-17, but a set of blocks from LWU gave the guests the first set victory 25-19.
The Lady Lions came out strong in the second set with
Marija Milic collecting a pair of aces before another Breen kill pushed FHU to a 4-0 lead over the Blue Raiders (19-5, 3-1 MSC) to start the second frame. It was the serving prowess of
Autumn Howard that pushed the Lady Lion lead to eight points when two service aces anchored a 13-5 lead. The Blue Raiders narrowed the gap to 20-17, but Howard again toed the service line where her four ace of the set knotted the match with a 25-17 set victory for FHU.
In the third set the Blue Raiders turned a 4-4 early tie into a 9-4 lead with a flurry of offense. A late rally by the Lady Lions with
Alex Howard and
Avery Young joining Orton with kills closed the FHU deficit to 19-15. Out of an LWU timeout, the guests scored six of the next seven points to take a 2-1 match advantage with a 25-16 set victory.
Freed-Hardeman fought to force a second-straight five-set match by jumping ahead to a 9-5 lead highlighted by a tandem block from Breen and Milic. Another Au. Howard service ace pulled FHU within one point, but the Blue Raiders went on a 6-0 run to gather enough momentum to win the set 25-19 and the match 3-1.
Audrey Orton matched her career-high of 16 kills for the second time this season to continue her 10+ kill match streak to four.
Autumn Howard had five service aces while
Becca Heineman led with 19 assists.
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Up Next
It will be a short turnaround for the Lady Lions as they will host the Williams Baptist (Ark.) University Lady Eagles on October 7 at 6:00 p.m.
