Conway, Ark. - Hendrix opened up the 2025 season with a couple of wins over Belhaven and Lyon on Saturday at Grove Gymnasium.
Belhaven (W, 3-1)
Hendrix rolled to a four-set victory over the Blazers in their season opener.
Ana Bastos led a well-rounded attack with a game-high 13 kills on 35 attacks. The junior hit 0.343 over the four sets with just one error.
Camryn Kennedy backed up Bastos with 11 kills.
Riley Brady also hit double-figures with 10 kills of her own.
The Warriors breezed through the opening set, leading by as many as seven. After
Brittany Newberry's squad took a 21-14 lead, Belhaven rattled off three consecutive points to draw closer. After the Blazers' run was cut short by a service error, Hendrix took the final three points of the set.
Belhaven battled back to take the second set and even the match at 1-1 and led 10-9 early in the third set, but
Mariana Leite's kill kickstarted seven-point run to give Hendrix a comfortable 16-10 lead. From there, the Warriors closed the set by outscoring the Blazers 9-5. Hendrix coasted through the fourth set and took advantage of nine attack errors from Belhaven to clinch the match.
Offensively, the Warriors hit 0.244 to Belhaven's 0.078 and committed eight less attack errors. Defensively,
Hailey Gripka and Camryn Kenendy were in on four blocks apiece. Gripka led the match with three solo blocks.
Lyon (W, 3-1)
Hendrix's second match of the day did not get off to the same great start as the first match, as their in-state foes Lyon dominated the opening frame impressive defense. A 19-11 deficit late in the first proved to be too much for the Warriors as they dropped the set 25-18.
After going down 6-4 early in the second, the Warriors benefitted from back-to-back errors to even the set before
Ana Bastos slammed home back-to-back kills to give Hendrix its largest lead of the match. The set would go back-and-forth for the next 20 points, but with Hendrix trailing 18-16, the Warriors mounted a six-point run to go up 22-18 and scored three of the final five points to even the match at one set apiece.
The third set was a set of runs as both teams took turns going on scoring spurts.
Alexis Mahan,
Perri Evans, and Bastos led Hendrix on a six-point run midway through the set to take a 16-8 lead, and they were eventually able to get their lead up to eight with the score at 20-11. Lyon battled back to make it 23-21, but Bastos was able to stop the bleeding with another kill before a Scot attack error clinched the set for Hendrix to give them a 2-1 advantage.
The fourth set was all Hendrix, as Lyon struggled to ever get a foothold and keep the match alive. The Warriors led by as many as nine in the final set, and Bastos sealed the match fittingly with her fifteenth kill.
Bastos once again led all participants in kills with 15, and also tallied a game-high 3 service aces.
Alexis Mahan's offensive contributions were timely and often on her way to a career-high 10 kills. Mahan, Gripka, and
Rachel Pearce each had a solo block to boot.
Up Next: Hendrix (2-0) heads to St. Louis next weekend for matches against Greenville and the hosts, Washington University in St. Louis.
