The Ignite defeated the Orlando Valkyries 25-20, 25-15, 25-18 Thursday, April 23, improving their record to 20-5 with three matches left in the regular season.
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Indy Ignite reached 20 wins and lowered their magic number to clinch the top seed in the Major League Volleyball Championship to one with a road sweep in Orlando Thursday night.
The Ignite defeated the Orlando Valkyries 25-20, 25-15, 25-18 in three sets April 23, improving their record to 20-5 with three matches left in the regular season.
With one more win or Dallas Pulse loss, the Ignite will secure that No. 1 seed in the upcoming championship, where the top four teams will compete for a million-dollar prize.
(NOTE: The video above is from an April 19 13News report on the Ignite.)
The Ignite logged a 48.5 percent kill percentage and limited the Valkyries to a 31.7 percent kill rate in the matchup, never trailing by more than two points in any set.
“That was a very clean game from us,” Ignite head coach Lauren Bertolacci said. “We served really well. They have two great setters and I don’t think they were able to use their in-system offense very much, which gave us a lot of chances on defense and in transition. I thought (Ignite setter) Mia (Tuaniga) did a great job setting our middles in trans and we were really able to put the pressure on the whole game.”
Outside hitter Leketor Member-Meneh tallied 12 points and kills, along with 13 digs, while outside hitter Azhani Tealer added 11 points on nine kills and a pair of blocks.
Two recent additions, middle blockers Jaelyn Keene and Emma Clothier, also impressed in the match. Keene tallied nine kills in 15 attempts, along with a service ace, and Clothier was 7-for-14 hitting without an error, also notching a block and ace.
The Ignite victory completed a 4-0 season sweep for the Valkyries and eliminated Orlando (10-15) from postseason contention.
The Ignite next travel to Atlanta for their final road match, playing Sunday, April 26 at 3 p.m. (CBS Sports Network). The team then returns home for their final two contests, which will stream for free on WTHR+.
Ignite games on WTHR+
Sixteen of the Ignite’s 28 matches have or will stream on WTHR+, a free 24/7 streaming app accessible on smart TVs and streaming devices such as Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV. WTHR+ is a digital extension of WTHR, providing live local news, weather and sports beyond traditional broadcast times, along with original programming and on-demand content for central Indiana viewers.
The remaining Indy Ignite schedule on WTHR+ is as follows:
Friday, May 1 at 7 p.m.: Columbus at IndySunday, May 3 at 3 p.m.: San Diego at Indy