OWENSBORO, Ky. – The Harding volleyball team won two matches Friday to open the Kentucky Wesleyan Invitational. The Lady Bisons defeated Lincoln Memorial 3-0 (25-16, 25-12, 25-18) in the first match and Tiffin 3-0 (25-14, 25-13, 25-11) in the second match.

Harding improves to 5-1 on the season.

Lincoln Memorial falls to 1-4 on the season and Tiffin falls to 3-3.

LINCOLN MEMORIAL MATCH

FIRST SET

Harding jumped out to a 7-0 lead on five kills in the first set. Leading 9-3, the Lady Bisons scored the next six points to lead 15-3 and didn't look back as they won the set 25-16. Harding had 14 kills in the set and forced nine Lincoln Memorial attack errors.

SECOND SET

Trailing 6-5 in the second set, Harding went on a 20-6 run to win the set 25-12. The Lady Bisons had nine kills and five aces during its final run. Harding hit .455 in the set.

THIRD SET

Tied at 10 in the third set, Harding went on a 6-1 run on four kills to lead 16-11. The Lady Bisons didn't allow Lincoln Memorial to get any closer than four the rest of the way as they won the set 25-18. Harding had 20 kills and hit .410 in the set.

STATS

Harding

-          Harding had 46 kills in the set and hit a season-high .354.

-          The Lady Bisons were led by Logan Smith who had a season-high 17 kills.

-          Harding had eight service aces with Emma Winiger and Grecia Soriano each having two.

-          Emma Winiger led the defense with 14 digs.

-          It was the first time since 2017 Harding has held its opponent to hitting negative and under 20 kills in a match. The Lady Bisons held Lyon to  -.036 and 19 kills in 2017.

Lincoln Memorial

-          Lincoln Memorial was held to only 17 kills in the match and hit -.011.

-          Sierrah Lemons and Maggie Sanderson each had four kills.

-          Amanda Lisi led the defense with 10 digs.

TIFFIN MATCH

FIRST SET

Trailing 6-5 in the first set, Harding went on an 8-0 run on five kills to lead 13-6. Leading 19-14, the Lady Bisons closed the set on a 6-0 run on two aces to win 25-14. Harding had 12 kills in the set and only one attack error.

SECOND SET

Harding jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the second set and didn't look back as it won 25-13. Harding had 14 kills and hit .429 in the set.

THIRD SET

Tied at two, Harding went on a 12-2 run on seven kills to lead 14-4. Leading 21-11, Skyler McKinnon had three straight kills and an attack error gave the Lady Bisons the set 25-11. Harding had 13 kills and held Tiffin to only four kills in the set.

STATS

Harding

-          Harding had 39 kills and hit .316 in the match.

-          Skyler McKinnon led Harding and tied a season-high with 13 kills.

-          Sarah Morehead captured a double-double with 26 assists and 11 digs.

-          Emma Winiger and Kinley Schnell each had 10 digs for the Harding defense.

Tiffin

-          Tiffin had 18 kills and hit -.020 in the match.

-          Wakaya Wilson led the team with five kills.

-          Diana Heitkamp led the defense with 11 digs.

UP NEXT

Harding will wrap up the invitational Saturday taking on St. Anslem at 9 a.m. and then Shorter at 1 p.m.