complete game notes in .pdf format

Storyline
The Lindenwood men's volleyball team begins a seven-match homestand this week. On Wednesday night, the Lions have their home opener against Missouri Baptist. Friday evening, Quincy comes to Hyland Arena. On Sunday afternoon, Park is the opponent for Lindenwood.

Lindenwood opened the 2012 season last week with a pair of road wins over Limestone and Lees-McRae.

Last Time Out
Lindenwood opened its 2012 season with a 3-1 victory over Limestone. The two teams split the first two sets. In the third set, Lindenwood jumped out to a big lead and then held on for a 2-1 advantage. The Lions then never trailed as they closed the match out in the fourth set.

Lindenwood recorded 54 kills in the match, 13 more than Limestone. The Lions hit .269 and held Limestone under .200.

Lindenwood moved to 2-0 with a five-set victory over Lees-McRae.

The fifth set was tied at 11, but four straight errors by the Bobcats gave the Lions the victory. Scott Siwicki had the big play for Lindenwood with a block that made the score 13-11. Lees-McRae followed that with two unforced errors.

Both teams had 50 kills and hit under .200 in the defensive battle.

Hitting Threat
Senior Jack Mitchell got his final season off to a good start. In the two matches, he averaged 4.67 points, 4.00 kills, 1.11 digs, and 0.89 blocks a set. He led the team in kills and points in both matches, and led in blocks and service aces in one match.

Mitchell recorded a career-high 17 kills in the opener. That lasted just over 24 hours as he recorded 19 kills against Lees-McRae.

Specialists
Tim Schmidt averaged nearly 10 assists a set last week in his new role as Lindenwood's top setter. He had 47 assists in four games versus Limestone, and then added 40 assists against Lees-McRae. He also had 16 digs for the week and averaged 1.78 digs a set.

Libero Corey Buehler averaged 2.67 digs a game. He was in double-figure digs in both matches with 11 and 13, respectively. He also recorded nine assists and had just two receive errors.

Team Defense
Through two matches, Lindenwood is holding opponents to a .190 hitting percentage. The Lions held both opponents last week below .200 hitting.

Lindenwood averaged nearly 10 digs and two blocks a set.

Quick Start
Lindenwood got off to a quick start last week by winning the first set in both matches.

The average score of the first sets were 25-22. Lindenwood is hitting .245 in the first set of matches, and holding opponents to a .094 mark.

Hyland Arena
Lindenwood brings a 13-match home winning streak into play this week. The Lions were 12-0 at Hyland Arena last season. They dropped just seven sets and had seven sweeps.

Since 2006, Lindenwood is 65-9 on its home court, a winning percentage of .878.

Last Season
Last season, Lindenwood went 2-0 against Missouri Baptist and Quincy, and 3-1 versus Park. The Lions have won two straight against Missouri Baptist, three straight versus Quincy, and four straight in the Park series.

Up Next
Lindenwood hosts the Lindenwood Invitational on Feb. 3-4 at Hyland Arena. The Lions will face Rust, Graceland, Grand View, and Park.

About the Spartans
Missouri Baptist is 3-1 this season and ranked No. 4 in the latest NAIA poll. Its lone loss was a 3-1 setback against No. 1 St. Ambrose.

Gustavo Cintron is the leading hitter with 3.42 kills a set, and Zach Zeris has 2.50 kills a set and a .533 hitting percentage. Other teams leaders are Robert Esser with 9.58 assists a set, Sam Platt with a 2.17 dig average, and Zeris with 1.50 blocks a game.

Head coach of Missouri Baptist is John Yehling, who is in his tenth year at the school.

About the Hawks
Quincy is 3-0 on the season after winning all three matches at the Mount Olive Tournament last week. The Hawks face Hannibal-LaGrange before taking on the Lions.

Three Hawks are averaging over three kills a game, led by John Pranger who is averaging 3.89 kills and hitting .756. Andrew Ouano had a team-high 12.18 assist average, Matt Bronson leads with a 1.64 dig average, and Steven Battaglia has a team-high five blocks.

Head coach Hadley Foster is in his sixth year at the school and has won 79 matches.

About the Pirates
Park, which opens up the season with two games on Saturday, is the No. 2 team at the NAIA level. Last season's squad went 24-11 and advanced to the NAIA semifinals.

Mike Talamantes is in his first season as Park's head coach.