The Lindenwood men's volleyball team opened the 2012 season on Friday with a 3-1 victory over Limestone in Gaffney, S.C. The Lions won by scores 25-21, 21-25, 25-21, and 25-22.

Lindenwood took the first set which was close throughout. The Lions had a small lead for most of the set, but Limestone used a small run to take a 19-18 lead. The Lions responded by winning seven of the final nine points. Jack Mitchell sparked that run with two straight kills, and JM Plummer and Scott Siwicki also had two kills apiece down the stretch.

That victory turned out to be big after the Saints won the second set. Limestone opened up a 15-7 lead and it was just barely too much for Lindenwood to recover from.  Four times, the Lions got within a point, but they couldn't tie or take the lead.

The third set saw the Lions open up a nine-point lead at one point. Limestone fought back and cut the deficit to 22-21 after a 6-0 run. The Saints ran out of gas though as they committed three straight errors to allow Lindenwood to escape with the win.

In the final set, Lindenwood never trailed after it scored the first two points. The Lions led 13-7 when Limestone went on a 5-0 run to make it a one-point set.  Lindenwood allowed just two points on Limestone's serve though for the rest of the set, and Mitchell ended the match with his 17th kill of the contest.

Lindenwood finished the match with 54 kills, 13 more than Limestone. The Lions hit .269 and held the Saints to just a .185 mark.

Mitchell led Lindenwood with 17 kills and he had a .406 hitting percentage. Also recording double-figure kills were Michael Adams with 14 and Plummer with 11. Siwicki had nine kills and no errors in 18 attempts.

Plummer had a double-double as he also had 11 digs, and Cory Buehler also recorded 11 digs. Tim Schmidt had a team-high 47 assists, and Siwicki led the squad with four blocks.

Lindenwood will be right back in action on Saturday with an evening contest at Lees-McRae.