The No. 2 Lindenwood men's volleyball team dropped its second five-set match in consecutive nights to No. 1 California Baptist on Friday evening. The Lancers won with scores of 25-21, 23-25, 11-25, 28-26, and 15-12.

The first game was close the entire way, but with the score tied 17-17, California Baptist went on an 8-4 run to take the one-game lead.

Knotted-up at 11-11 in the second game, Lindenwood pulled away after going on an 11-5 stretch and tied the match.

Game three was all Lions, as they jumped out to an 8-1 lead and never let up, taking the game by a 14-point margin. They also went up 2-1 in the match.

Lindenwood almost closed-out the match in the fourth game, but for the second night in a row, the Lancers fought back and prevailed to send the match to a fifth set.

In that final game, the teams went back-and-forth, and were tied at 11-11. California Baptist then managed to pull away and take the game 15-12, and wrapped-up the match.

Leading the Lions in kills was Bradley Johnston with 19 and JM Plummer with nine. Carson Grissinger provided 27 assists, while Mike Larson added 21 assists. Defensively, three Lions had six digs, and Luke Knowlson recorded eight total blocks. Johnston also tallied three service aces in the match.

On Thursday night, Lindenwood saw its 10 game winning streak come to a halt as it fell to California Baptist by scores of 25-23, 23-25, 23-25, 25-19, 15-10.

The Lions never led in the first set, but tied the game at 22-22 before falling 25-23.

The second set was another tight one, with the lead changing hands several times. But in the end, Lindenwood won the game on a kill by Knowlson, and evened the match.

Game three was more of the same. But with the game tied at 21-21, the Lancers made some crucial errors and a kill by Mike Warren put the Lions in the driver's seat. Lindenwood went on to win the game 25-23, and took a 2-1 lead in the match.

California Baptist came back with a victory in game four, taking the lead 10-9 and never looking back.

In the fifth and final set, Lindenwood jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, which eventually turned into an 8-6 margin. But the Lancers went on a 9-2 run to come from behind and win the game and the match.

For the Lions, Johnston and Warren each tallied 11 kills, while Larson and  Grissinger had 25 and 14 assists respectively. Mike Emerick totaled nine digs, and Plummer added eight digs. Warren also led the team with five blocks. Johnston, Plummer, and Raphael Mattos each served two aces in the match.

Lindenwood (12-7) will travel to Fullerton, California on Saturday night to face Hope International, who the Lions swept in three games at the Lindenwood Invitational earlier this season.