The Lindenwood men's volleyball team (1-3, 0-0 MIVA) earned a sweep and their first win of the season after defeating LIU (1-4, 0-0 NEC) on Saturday night.

MATCH OVERVIEW
Lindenwood held an early 11-7 lead in the opening set after an A.J. Lewis kill. LIU responded with the next four points, tying the set at 11 apiece. Each team continued to trade points throughout the set with neither team leading by more than three after this point. With Lindenwood ahead 22-19, the sharks answered with three-straight points to make the score 22-22. After a timeout by the Lions, the squad took three of the final four points, capped off by an Aidan Curcuru termination as the black and gold took the opening set 25-23. Curcuru finished the opening stanza with a team-high four kills.

The second set was a back and forth one from start to finish with no team leading by more than two points. As a result, the frame ended up being a marathon, with 25 points not being enough to decide it. Lindenwood finally grabbed ahold of the second after an Ian Schuller kill made the score 32-31 in favor of the Lions. Connor Sheehan finished the stanza off with a service ace as the Lions outlasted the Sharks 33-31 and took a 2-0 lead in the match. Schuller finished the set with seven kills.

Lindenwood trailed in the second set, 8-5 early but were able to get the next four points to take a 9-8 lead. LIU responded and were able to grab a 16-13 advantage at the media. Coming out of the timeout, RaShawn Bonner tallied back-to-back kills, which helped the squad go on a 3-0 run to even the score once again. The two teams traded points until a big block from Curcuru and Clay Wieter put the Lions ahead 21-19. The Lions were able to close out the match at 25-23 with the help of Ian Schuller's match best 16^th kill of the night and pick up their first win of the season in the process. Lindenwood finished off the third set hitting ,500 as a team.

GAME LEADERS
Ian Schuller (16 kills, three digs, .414 Hit %)
Aidan Curcuru (nine kills, .667 Hit %)
RaShawn Bonner (seven kills, five digs, .778 hit percentage)

QUOTABLE
"I'm proud of the way the team approached this match after we talked postgame the night before," said head coach Joe Kosciw. "They responded really well on the defensive end with blocks and digs. The focus was there from everyone and the bench did a great job being active all night. The guys worked hard today, and it was great team win to cap off this trip. We're excited to get back in the gym next week and get prepped for two matches."


UP NEXT
The Lions travel to St. Louis, Mo. on Thursday, January 25 for a matchup with Maryville. First serve is set for 7:00 p.m.