CLEVELAND, Tennessee — Kailey Moorhead's 12 kills and Kristi Hager's 27 digs Friday helped NAIA No. 20 Lindsey Wilson defeat Xavier University of Louisiana 25-16, 25-23, 25-7 in the women's volleyball season opener for both teams at the Lee Invitational.
The Blue Raiders limited Xavier's two best offensive players of a year ago, Taylor Reuther and Moira Kirk, to a combined six kills and a minus-.070 hitting percentage. Kirk's two kills were the fewest of her XU career, and Reuther's minus-.091 hitting percentage — four kills and seven errors in 33 attack attempts — was her worst.
Chinedu Echebelem recorded her third career double-double at Xavier, 12 kills and 12 digs. Freshman Alexis Clay had 17 digs.
Echebelem had seven kills in the second set to help the Gold Nuggets build a 20-16 advantage. But Lindsey Wilson scored six of the next seven points to take the lead for good, and Taylor Hayne closed the set with a kill.
Lindsey Wilson's Angela Mlachnik served all four of her aces during a 16-3 run to open the third set.
"We played really well in the second set," XU coach Christabell Hamilton said. "The first set we were a little nervous, and the third one we lost all momentum because we couldn't pass at all. We are very young and still trying to find a lineup that works and get used to each other on the court."
Four of the eight Nuggets who played were freshmen. Franziska Pirkl started at setter and had 20 assists and five digs, Claudia Haywood had four kills and two blocks, and Darian Harris had five digs in their collegiate debuts.
Lindsey Wilson outhit Xavier .264 to .069 and had advantages of 42-26 in kills, 60-51 in digs and 9-0 in aces.
It was the first time Xavier opened the season against a ranked opponent. The Gold Nuggets will play another ranked team, No. 3 Lee, at 7 p.m. EDT Friday.
Box score
VISIT: XAVIER UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA
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