ST. CHARLES, MO. - The Lindenwood men's volleyball team fell in a 0-3 loss at GCU on Friday night in their 2023 season opener. 

"The guys did a good job with focusing on things we needed to improve on from Friday and we made some good adjustments during the match," said Head Coach Joe Kosciw. "This afternoon was a good battle, and tested us on playing with consistency."

OVERVIEW
The Lions held their own in all three sets, falling in close 21-25, 22-25 and 21-25 final scores, respectively.

Set one held the best team hitting percentage for the Lions, which ended up being 14 kills on 24 attempts for a strong .458 as a collective. Things were neck and neck for the duration of the set, and the Lopes never really got a true lead over Lindenwood until things sat at 20-21 in favor of the home team. From there, Grand Canyon was able to execute offensively and win the close race in the end. 

The second set played out in a similar fashion until things stood at 12-14, then Grand Canyon started to pull away a bit. Lindenwood continued to put up a fight, however, but various errors would ultimately get the best of the Lions. 

Although the Lions' attacking percentage greatly deteriorated in the third set (.040 as a team), Grand Canyon was still not let off easy. Some strong defense, including great blocking efforts from various Lions, continued to force Grand Canyon errors and keep Lindenwood in the game. Kadin Warner led the way with two block assists, while four other Lions added block assists to their stat lines in this set.  

A.J. Lewis and Ian Schuller tag-teamed the Lions' offensive presence in this match, with each of them tallying 11 total kills a piece. Schuller strung together an impressive .421 attacking percentage on 19 total attempts, playing another strong match during his collegiate debut weekend. Defensively, Lewis and Warner each tallied three blocks to lead the way for the Lions, while Kyle Deutschmann, Clay Wieter and Schuller each tallied the highest number of digs for the way with four a piece. 

"For a tough opponent on the opening weekend, we learned some specific aspects of our game we can focus on to continue to improve over these upcoming matches," said Kosciw. "Playing tough competition like this out of the gates is helpful in learning those flaws we need to dial in on."

LEADERS
A.J. Lewis (11 K, 1 SA, 16 REC)
Ian Schuller (11 K, .421 A%, 4 DIGS)

UP NEXT
The Lions will compete in their home opener on Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. against NJIT.