Bourbonnais, Ill. — The Marian University volleyball team won its final 12 sets at the Tiger Kickoff Invite hosted by Olivet Nazarene, capping a perfect 4-0 opening weekend with sweeps of Freed-Hardeman and nationally recognized Lindsey Wilson on Saturday.
MATCH ONE | Marian 3, Freed-Hardeman 0
TEAM STATISTICS
- Marian tallied 34 kills to Freed-Hardeman's 25
- The Knights limited their attack errors to six for the match, pushing their hitting percentage to .400, while keeping the Lady Lions to .058
- MU recorded 10 aces to FHU's three
- Marian picked up 33 digs to Freed Hardeman's 27
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
- Lexa Zimmerman tallied a team-high 10 digs
- Mya Cunningham added 14 assists and five digs
- Sami Luttel chipped in 11 assists and four aces
- Chloe Cook led the team with six kills in a balanced attack
- Ashlynn Turner added four kills on four swings
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST SET
- Khori Dryden's kill capped three straight Marian points to give the Knights a 6-4 lead
- The Knights took eight of 10 points to lead 16-7 near the midway point of the opening frame
- Callaway Marsh's ace forced an FHU timeout leading 22-10
- Two Lady Lion attack errors closed the opening set
SECOND SET
- The Knights led 6-2 in the second after Ava Tindall's kill
- Dryden's kill pushed Marian's lead to 18-10 and forced a timeout
- The Knights ended the frame on an 11-1 run to take a two-set lead
THIRD SET
- FHU enjoyed a stretch of five straight points to take an early 9-5 lead
- Luttel's ace tied the match at 9 and forced a Lady Lion timeout
- The Knights would take the next three points out of the timeout as well to lead 12-9
- Danielle Schade's kill put MU up 23-18, as FHU took its final timeout
- Another ace from Luttel clinched the match
MATCH TWO | Marian 3, Lindsey Wilson 0
TEAM STATISTICS
- Marian tallied 40 kills to Lindsey Wilson's 27
- The Knights added 10 more aces to four for the Blue Raiders
- MU picked up eight blocks in the match to two for Lindsey Wilson
- Marian hit .395 for the match, their third straight hitting .360 or better
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
- Cook led the way with 12 kills, hitting .550
- Cunningham and Luttel combined for 33 assists
- Dryden piled on five service aces
- Turner and Evie Dart recorded four blocks apiece
- Zimmerman and Dryden combined for 15 digs
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST SET
- Lindsey Wilson led 6-2 in the early going of the opening set
- After Marian called a timeout trailing 9-4, the Knights rallied off seven of eight points to take the lead
- The Blue Raiders scored four straight to take an 18-17 lead
- The Knights later responded with three straight points of their own to force a timeout
- Marian tacked on the next four points, taking the set's final seven points
SECOND SET
- Kills from Dart and Cook kickstarted a 4-0 run to start the second for Marian
- Marsh's ace made it a 9-2 MU advantage
- Luttel later followed with an ace to force a Lindsey Wilson timeout, leading 12-4
- Kills from Dryden and Cook, followed by back-to-back Dryden aces finished off a second set in which the Knights hit .520
THIRD SET
- Cook added two kills on a 5-0 run for Marian that forced an early Blue Raider timeout with the Knights ahead 7-2 in the third
- The run extended to an 11-2 Marian lead, a stretch of 10 straight Knight points
- Dryden's kill made it a 15-4 MU advantage
- A Marian timeout righted a 4-0 Lindsey Wilson run; Tindall's kill finished off the four-win weekend
UP NEXT
- Marian heads to the Onset Invitational next weekend hosted by Saint Francis (Ind.) in Fort Wayne
- The Knights' four-match weekend is headlined by the first, a battle with 11th-ranked Missouri Baptist
