BOURBONNAIS, Ill. — The Freed-Hardeman University Lady Lion volleyball team got the 2026 season started at the Olivet Nazarene Tournament. FHU opened the season with a loss to Mount Marty (S.D.) University 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-21) before falling to the Grace (Ind.) College Lancers 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-8, 25-15) to wrap the day.
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Match 1
Freed-Hardeman — 0
Mount Marty — 3
The first point of the season for the Lady Lions (0-1) came from the arm of
Marija Cabadaj before
Ana Coker's kill tied the opening set 2-2. Later in the set, FHU rattled off three consecutive points with a
Marija Milic kill and a Cate Scroer service ace. Several string of points for the opposition allowed Mount Marty to take the first set 25-19.
In the second set, FHU's took an early 3-2 lead with
Becca Heineman's kill being followed by a
Marija Milic block and a Hanae Bezerga ace.
Teodora Dacic smacked a kill to push the Lady Lions to a 20-16 lead, but the MMU Lancers (1-0) went on a 5-1 run to tie the set before escaping with a 25-23 score.
Hope Breen gave the Lady Lions a lead during the third set, but Mount Marty pushed across points on six of the next seven rallies to jump out to an 11-7 advantage. FHU's blockers stood tall in the middle of the set, with Coker, Heineman, and Milic all rejecting attacks. A kill from Coker was followed by an error from Mount Marty to pull the Lady Lions within one point, but FHU was unable to touch 25 first, falling in straight sets after a 25-21 third.
Marija Cabadaj led FHU's attack with seven kills while
Hanaé Bezerga led the back row with 13 digs.
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Match 2
Freed-Hardeman — 0
Grace — 3
Despite falling behind 4-0 in the start of the second game, the Lady Lions (0-2) later bounced back with four straight points including kills from
Teodora Dacic and
Marija Milic before
Olivia Saint joined Milic with a tandem block. Grace then scored six of the next seven points to take a 12-11 lead. Milic and Saint helped FHU bounce back to take a 16-13 lead with
Katelyn Husband's block later pushing the FHU lead to 19-17. The Lancers scored five straight points to force an FHU timeout before winning the set 25-22.
Freed-Hardeman bounced back to win their first set of the season in the second frame. Dacic smashed a kill before connecting for a service ace before
Olivia Saint's kill gave the Lady Lions an 11-9 advantage. Later in the set, Saint tallied another kill that was followed by another Milic block to force a Grace (2-0) timeout with FHU leading 22-0.
Katelyn Husband wrapped up the second set in Lady Lion cheers with a kill to win the set 25-23.
After the Lancers reclaimed the match lead by winning the third set 25-8, Cabadaj continued her strong debut with a pair of kills.
Alyssa Austin's service ace helped the Lady Lions narrow the gap, but Grace was able to claim both the set and the match.
In the second match of the day,
Olivia Saint led the offense with nine kills at a .200 clip.
Hanaé Bezerga again led the way with nine digs.
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Up Next
The Lady Lions wrap the ONU Tournament on August 15 with another pair of matches, first against the Carroll (Mont.) College Fighting Saints at 9:00 a.m. FHU then concludes the weekend against the Marian (Ind.) University Knights at 1:00 p.m.
