Ignite Continue Winning Ways with Sweep of Visiting Atlanta
Tealer, Member-Meneh Spark Victory for First-Place Indy
By Mark Robinson
FISHERS, Ind. (April 12, 2026) – Any need to worry about a letdown from the Indy Ignite was misguided. Three days after clinching a place in next month’s Major League Volleyball playoffs, the Ignite took care of business today, sweeping visiting Atlanta at Fishers Event Center.
The Vibe tested the Ignite in the final two sets but Indy still prevailed by scores of 25-19, 28-26, 27-25. The Ignite are now 18-4 this season, good for first place by 1.5 games over Dallas with six matches to play in the regular season.
“Atlanta's a tough team and they're always going to push back and do good things and get us into well beyond those extra points,” Ignite head coach Lauren Bertolacci observed. “It's good we could manage it and win those, and that’s important experience for us.”
The Ignite relied on their experienced and explosive pin hitters – Azhani Tealer and Leketor Member-Meneh – to carry them against the Vibe. Opposite hitter Tealer led Indy with 19 kills, hitting 55.8 percent with 47.1 percent efficiency. Outside hitter Member-Meneh struck for 13 kills, hitting 44.8 percent on 34.5 percent efficiency. The duo was particularly impressive at the conclusion of the second set, when they combined for eight of Indy’s last nine points to secure the overtime win.
As a team, the Ignite were successful on 41.5 percent of their hits with an efficiency of 28.0 percent in the match. Both figures were above their season averages that rank second in MLV. Indy’s defense limited the Vibe to 19.4 percent efficiency, improving the Ignite’s league-leading opponents’ efficiency to 19.9 percent for the season.
“Congrats to Indy, they’re in first place for a reason,” Atlanta coach Kayla Banwarth said. “They’re incredibly talented. I have a lot of respect for all of their players, for Lauren. These numbers don’t lie; they had a great match. Azhani doing Azhani things and Lek had a great match as well. When you have multiple pins firing the way that they were firing, that’s going to be hard for us to stop.”
The Ignite rarely trailed in the first two frames, though they did go down a set point in the second before scoring three straight on two Member-Meneh kills sandwiched around one from Tealer after Member-Meneh made a sensational diving save to keep the point alive.
Atlanta stormed to a 13-7 lead in the third set before Indy edged its way back. The Ignite went ahead 24-23 on a Tealer back-row kill, then the Vibe dodged a pair of match points before another Tealer kill and a Lydia Martyn block closed out the victory.