BELLEVUE, Neb. – The Lindsey Wilson volleyball team opened its 2024 season on Friday in the GoSarpy.com Classic with a two-match split, handing Jacob Hepp his first victory of his head coaching tenure.
The Blue Raiders started off the day with a straight-set decision over Avila (Mo.) before falling to second-ranked Northwestern (Iowa) in the nightcap.
Elisa Burzio paced the offense with 19 kills on the day, while
Luiza Goncalves dished out 53 total assists and contributed a team-high three service aces.
Match One: Lindsey Wilson 3, Avila (Mo.) 0
The Blue Raiders and the Eagles battled neck-and-neck through the first set, but the eventual winners found a little more separation to pull away in the second and third sets.
Avila grabbed an early two-point edge in the first frame to go ahead 7-5. Then, a setter-dump kill by Goncalves sparked a six-point rally by Lindsey Wilson to give the Blue Raiders an 11-7 lead and force an Eagles' timeout.
Following the break, Avila climbed back to the lead, only to lose it just as quickly behind a 5-0 Blue Raider run equipped with two aces by Goncalves. From there, Lindsey Wilson held off the Eagles to take the opening set, 25-23.
Separate stretches of 11-4 and 6-1 gave the Blue Raiders room to work in the middle frame, ultimately resulting in a 25-17 win.
In the third set, Avila kept things close to draw a Lindsey Wilson timeout. Out of the break, however, the Blue Raiders came back swinging to turn a 13-12 deficit into a 19-16 advantage. With six of the next nine points scored in its favor, Lindsey Wilson successfully secured its first win of the season.
As a team, the Blue Raiders hit 0.289 and doubled the Eagles in total kills.
Match Two: Lindsey Wilson 0, No. 2 Northwestern (Iowa) 3
In the first ever meeting between Lindsey Wilson and Northwestern on the volleyball court, it was the Red Raiders emerging victorious after three sets.
Despite being narrowly bested 29-27 on total kills, the Blue Raiders were stung by their own miscues.
The Red Raiders led by as many as nine points in the first frame and took even more control over the match with a strong win in the second set.
Lindsey Wilson pulled within a point of the opposition late in the third, but a late run pushed Northwestern out of reach.
The Blue Raiders face a quick turnaround as they return to the Lied Activity Center at 9 a.m. CST on Saturday, August 24 to face No. 21 Montana Tech and hosts No. 18 Bellevue (Neb.) at 2 p.m. CST.
