ST. CHARLES, MO. - The Lindenwood men's volleyball team defeated the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons in five sets on Friday night in Hyland Arena.
"This is exactly what we've been expecting when we get into conference play, it's going to be a grind and tough battles each and every night," said Head Coach
Joe Kosciw. "We've talked about the need to stick with our confidence throughout the duration of the match, and they did a great job tonight with that."
OVERVIEW
The Lions came out strong in the first set, looking confident in their 25-17 victory over the visiting Mastodons. Lindenwood's offensive presence forced various errors from the Mastodons, pushing them to call two timeouts back to back at the very end of set one, but to no avail, because the Lions were able to hang on to their lead through the final point of the match.
The second set went to the Mastodons in a 19-25 fashion as they looked to swing the momentum back in their favor. Things would stand at 1-1 heading into the third set.
Set three was a lot more even, with both teams neck-and-neck for the majority of the set. The Lions were able to hang onto a narrow 25-23 lead, taking a 2-1 lead heading into a fourth set.
The fourth set would be so evenly played that things would end up in overtime, with Purdue Fort Wayne coming out on top in 27-29 victory despite more pressure from the home team.
The Lions edged the visiting Mastodons in the fifth and final set however, running away with a 15-11 victory in an electric environment. The dynamic duo of
Carter Stenmark and
A.J. Lewis carried the Lions offensively, complimented by some big
defensive performances from
Ian Schuller,
Kyle Deutschmann and Lewis, who tallied 10 total digs a piece to hold down the fort on the defensive side.
"I thought the guys had great responses after a rough second set by playing a well rounded game in the third," said Kosciw. "And again, had a great response after battling in a tight 4th set. The bench and the atmosphere was a lot of fun tonight. We're looking forward to facing another tough opponent tomorrow night in Loyola."
LEADERS
A.J. Lewis (18 K, .293 A%, 1 SA, 10 DIGS, 3 BLK ASST)
Carter Stenmark (18 K, 8 DIGS, 5 BLK ASST )
Ian Schuller (11 K, 10 DIGS)
UP NEXT
The Lions will turn around and play the Loyola Ramblers at 7:00 pm in Hyland Arena.
