SEASON OVERVIEW
Lindenwood men's volleyball finished the 2019 season with a 9-19 overall record and a 5-9 conference mark. Lindenwood played one of the most difficult schedules in the country, playing 14 nationally ranked opponents, including #1 Long Beach State, #2 UCLA and #4 UC-Santa Barbara. The Lions had four earn a spot on the All-MIVA squad, up from two selections a year ago. In the classroom, Nick Stevenson earned CoSIDA/Google Cloud Academic All-American plaudits, the first in program history.
 
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
- On January 18 in Nashville, the Lions swept Limestone in the Grow the Game Challenge. Connor Hipelius was the Lions' most effective hitter, notching 15 kills on 17 swings for a .882 attack percentage, the top hitting percentage in the NCAA this season (min. 15 attempts).
- Johnny Winkler had two 20-dig matches this season. There were only 10 such matches in the country.
- Against Quincy, Hipelius led the Lions to a sweep, recording seven total blocks and earning MIVA Defensive Player of the Week.
- On March 29, Lindenwood upset No. 13 Ball State in five sets. Hipelius notched 16 kills with a .542 attack percentage, his fourth match of a .500 attack percentage or better.
- Against Purdue-Fort Wayne, Diego Negron had a career-best 22 kills, the most for the Lions this season.
- Charley Hlavin was the Lions top scorer this year, scoring 3.01 points per set. He also led the team with 2.60 kills per set and 0.51 blocks per set while recording 1.32 digs per set.
- Connor Hipelius led the Lions with 202 total kills and 106 blocks. He is the first Lion to record 200 kills and 100 blocks since joining the NCAA.
- Setter Adam Brewster posted 898 assists (9.26 per set) to finish his career with 2,886 assists, sixth all-time at Lindenwood (most in NCAA era).
- Nick Stevenson led the team with 163 digs, followed closely by Brewster with 139.
- Sam Schindler posted 34 aces (.36 per set), 30^th in the NCAA.
 
QUOTE
""The 2019 season was another step in the right direction," Lindenwood head coach Joe Kosciw said. "The intensity and quality of volleyball improved despite a tougher schedule. We had scheduled tough non-conference matches to get us prepared later in the season for our conference slate. I believe the team responded well to some adversity throughout the year and we won some tough matches including a win over Ball State and a season sweep of Ohio State."

"Throughout the year we had a good balance of scoring from key returners as well as a few of our freshman. The experience gained by some of our younger athletes in these tough matches makes for an exciting upcoming season. I know our guys have been putting in work this summer to continue to improve for next year."
 
AWARDS
Second Team All-MIVA | Connor Hipelius, Adam Brewster
MIVA All-Freshman Team | Diego Negron, Phil Swartz
MIVA All-Academic Team | Adam Brewster, Diego Negron, Logan Nash, Charley Hlavin, Michael Jennings, Brad Brinkerhoff, Sam Schindler, Phil Swartz, Ben Symonds, Cal Werths, Brian Schwob, Jake Reid, Nick Stevenson, Jeremy Kirch
CoSIDA/Google Cloud Academic All-America | Nick Stevenson
 
LOOK AHEAD
The Lions graduate two starters from last years' squad: Adam Brewster and Connor Hipelius. However, Lindenwood returns five student-athletes who scored at least two points per set last season. Though a majority of Lindenwood sports are moving to the GLVC next season, the men's volleyball program will remain in the MIVA.