complete game notes in .pdf format

Storyline
The Lindenwood men's volleyball team will travel north this week to play against three NCAA programs.

On Thursday, the Lions will face NCAA Division I Ball State in Muncie, Ind. The Lions will travel to Wisconsin on Saturday where the opponent will be the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The trip ends on Sunday in Kenosha, Wis. with a contest against the Carthage Red Men.

Last Time Out
The Lions hosted the 13th annual Lindenwood Invitational last weekend at the Hyland Arena. The team went 3-1 on the weekend.

Lindenwood went 2-0 on the first day with wins over Rust and Graceland. The Lions recorded 51 kills and 17 blocks in the best match of the day, a five-set match against Graceland.

On Saturday, Lindenwood dropped its first match to Grand View in four sets. The final match was against Park, who beat the Lions a week before in a five-set thriller. This time around, the Lions were able to beat the Pirates behind 19 kills by Jack Mitchell and 14 from Michael Adams.

Senior Leader
Senior opposite hitter Jack Mitchell helped Lindenwood win three matches last week. In four matches, he averaged 3.20 kills, 1.53 digs, and 0.93 blocks a set. He had double-figure kill totals in all three matches including 19 versus Park. Mitchell also had seven blocks against Park and recorded a kill-dig double-double in the contest against Graceland.

Setter Threats
All three Lion setters contributed at the Lindenwood Invitational. Chris Cox led the way with 103 assists on the weekend, including a 43 tally against Graceland. Although restricted by injury, Tim Schmidt was able to step into the final match against Park and posted 47 assists for the Lions. Junior setter Kevin Schmalzeried appeared against Rust and posted a team-high 26 assists.

On the Defense
The Lions averaged 9.65 digs a contest over the weekend with at least one player in double-figures after each match. Libero Cory Buehler recorded 34 digs on the weekend.

Block Party
After playing 16 sets in four matches, the Lions were able to record 39 blocks last week, average of 2.47 a set. Jack Mitchell and Logan Jarus each had seven against Park, along with Jarus posting eight in the contest against Grand View.

On the season, Jarus leads the team with 0.95 blocks a set. Mitchell averages 0.81 and Scott Siwicki has a 0.80 block average.

Up Next
After the long road trip up north, the Lions will return home for a pair of matches at the Hyland Arena. Both contests will take place on Wednesday Feb. 15. Opening the day, the Lions will go up against Lindenwood-Belleville at 5 p.m. with another match against Fontbonne at 7 p.m.

Series History
Ball State leads the series against the Lions 3-0 as the Cardinals have defeated Lindenwood in 2001, 2002, and 2011. Each match has been decided in three sets.

Lindenwood is 7-0 against MSOE since the first meeting in 2001. The Lions have swept the Red Raiders five times, beat them once in four and once in five. Their last meeting was in 2010 when the Lions obtained a pair of victories, one at home and one on the road.

The Lions travel to Carthage being up in the series 5-0. Starting the rivalry in 2006, Lindenwood volleyball has only dropped four sets to the Red Men over four years. Last time out, the Lions defeated Carthage in five at the Hyland Arena and swept them in Kenosha.

About the Cardinals
Ball State is coming off a pair of losses to two nationally-ranked teams in Loyola and Lewis. The losses dropped their record to 5-4 on the season.

Tommy Rouse was recently named the MIVA Defensive Player of the Week after recording 29 for a 2.64 digs average. Jamion Hartley and Larry Wrather both average over two kills a game.

Head coach for the Cardinals is Joel Walton. This is his 14th season and he holds an overall record of 254-140.

About the Red Raiders
MSOE is 1-2 to start the 2012 season suffering losses from Cardinal Stritch and Quincy.

Max Martin leads the Red Raiders on offense averaging 3.20 kills a set, 1.20 digs, and is tied for a team-high of seven blocks through three contests.

Head coach of MSOE is Brian Gibboney who enters his ninth season as the coach.

About the Red Men
Carthage was ranked first in the latest NCAA Division III natioal poll. It is 5-1 on the season with their lone loss coming from NCAA Division I Loyola-Chicago,

Pat Barry leads Carthage with 20 kills in the contest and concluded with a .500 hitting percentage. Another Red Men to include is Randy Hansen who leads the team with 104 kills and averages 4.52 kills per set and 14 blocks on the season.

L.J Marx is entering his eighth year as the head volleyball coach for the Red Men and he has a record of 129-94.