Despite a valiant effort, the IU Southeast volleyball team fell to 10^th ranked Lindsey Wilson 3-0 in their second game of the season on Wednesday.

Lindsey Wilson had the lead for much of the first set, but the Grenadiers were able to come within two points after scoring four straight points making it 18-20.  However, Lindsey Wilson would rebound and win the first set, 25-20.

IU Southeast came out strong in the second set taking an early lead.  Lindsey Wilson was able to come back and dominate the second set, 25-15.

In the beginning of the third set, the Grenadiers yet again showed their resilience and kept the match neck and neck with the 10^th ranked Blue Raiders.  Lindsey Wilson though was able to pull ahead and win the third set, 25-19.

Although it was a hard loss for the Grenadiers, Head Coach Eric Brian said he sees that good can come from losing to the 10^th ranked team in the country.

“It’s definitely a real good measuring stick to know where we are and what we need to work on,” Brian said.  “And a lot of times you’re really only going to see that when you play the best teams.”

Senior Sara Schum led the way for the Grenadiers with 11 kills, while freshman Michala Beasley had 8 kills.  Senior Meaghen Tompkins had 20 assists and freshman Demi Richardson added 10 assists for IU Southeast.

Lindsey Wilson was led by senior Nadelina Nesheva, with 13 kills, and freshman Makenzie Montano, who had a game high 30 assists.

Schum can already see just how mentally tough her and the rest of the volleyball team are this year.

“We’re continuing to improve and trying to get to where we need to be,” Schum said.  We’re a lot more mentally tough this year and focused than I think we have been in the past 3 years.”

Although it has only been a couple games into the season, Brian said he believes if his team plays the way they did against Lindsey Wilson, the sky is the limit.

“If we play our conference opponents like we just played against Lindsey Wilson, we can win the regular season and we can win the conference championship and go to nationals,” said Brian.

The next Grenadiers’ volleyball match is Sept. 2 at Spalding University at 7 p.m.