The Lindenwood men’s volleyball team (1-1) dropped a close match in a sweep (25-23, 25-22, 25-21) to #2 ranked Long Beach State (2-0) on Wednesday Night. Ian Schuller and Brendan Louthain were the leaders for the Lions, each tallying 11 kills on the night. Carter Stenmark and Owen Walsh each chipped in with six kills but it wasn’t enough as Long Beach outhit Lindenwood .432-.324 during the match and neither team could gain much traction on the defensive end.
Long Beach was the first to 10 in the opening set, leading 10-6 off back-to-back kills from Daniil Hershtynovich. They would continue to hold the lead, and it looked like they would be well on their way to a blowout win in set one leading 19-14 but the Lions came storming back. A kill from Louthain and a few unforced errors from Long Beach gave the Lions a 4-0 run pulling within one at 19-18. Kills from Schuller and Aidan Curcuru would tie the set at 21-21 and it seemed like all the momentum was with the Lions but Long Beach would settle themselves and go on a 3-0 run to lead 24-21 forcing a Lions timeout. Lindenwood would fight off two set points behind kills from Stenmark and Schuller but Long Beach would close out the set 25-23 after a kill from Sotiris Siapanis.
The second set was the definition of a back and forth set featuring eight ties and two lead changes. Neither team would lead by more than two points throughout the set, and Long Beach would lead 15-14 at the media timeout. The Lions would again get within one late in the set at 21-20 after kills from Louthain and Schuller but once again Long Beach would be the team to step up and go on a 3-0 run to get within set point. Lindenwood would again fight off two set points but Skyler Varga would finish off the set 25-22 and give Long Beach a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
In the third set, Long Beach would seize control early and not look back. Their lead would get up by as many as six at 17-11 but once again the Lions showed a late fight. Lindenwood would get within three multiple times at 20-17, 21-18, and 22-19 but each time the Lions seemed to get within two Long Beach had the answer. With the score 24-21 after fighting off yet again two set points, a Stenmark service error would end the match, and give Long Beach a sweep of the Lions dropping them to 1-1.
Lindenwood will head west to Northridge California to participate in the Under Armour Challenge and face off against #17 UC San Diego on Friday, Jan. 17, and #15 CSUN on Saturday, Jan. 18. Both games will be streaming on ESPN+ with the first starting at 6:00 p.m. central time and the latter beginning at 9:00 p.m. central time. The Lions won’t return home until Sunday, Jan. 26 when they play host to the University of Charleston.