The Lindenwood men's volleyball team (5-7, 2-3 MIVA) took down its second-straight ranked opponent after topping No. 12 Loyola Chicago in four sets on Friday night in Hyland Arena.

MATCH OVERVIEW
The first set was a seesaw battle as neither team led by more than two points, until the closing stages. With things tied 15-15, Lindenwood went on a 3-1 run, capped off by a block by RaShawn Bonner and Clay Wieter to grab a 19-16 advantage. The Ramblers narrowed the gap a little bit, but the Lions were able to close out the set at 25-21 and take a 1-0 lead in the match. The two teams hit a solid percentage in the opening stanza with Lindenwood finishing at .464.

The second set began like the first as both teams went back and forth. The Lions were the first team to 15 after a kill by A.J. Lewis, but the Ramblers responded after the media timeout, going on a 5-1 run to grab an 18-16 lead. The visitors were able to hang on to the second frame, winning 25-23, tying the match 1-1.

The Lions had their best hitting set of the match in the third, swinging at a .486 clip. Lindenwood held a slim advantage throughout the third and were able to get it to set point at 24-21. The Ramblers wouldn't go away, however, winning the next three points to knot things up at 24-24. Lindenwood picked up the next two points, the last being a kill by Ian Schuller to take the third set 26-24.

In a tightly contested fourth set, neither team was able to gain much of an edge. The two teams continued to trade points throughout the fourth, which resulted in the set going to extra points. With the stanza tied 27-27, Owen Walsh picked up a kill and the match was finished off by a Rambler error, as Lindenwood took the fourth 29-27 and the match 3-1.

MATCH LEADERS
Connor Sheehan (54 assists, seven digs)
Ian Schuller (22 kills, .410 hit %, 10 digs)
Clay Wieter (12 kills, .385 hit %)

QUOTABLE
"The guys did a great job tonight playing pretty consistently. We had a gameplan in place and we did a good job sticking to it. Loyola has a couple of guys that are tough to limit, but our group stayed the course on it tonight. It was a great hard fought win tonight, and we're expecting another battle again tomorrow night!," said head coach Joe Kosciw

UP NEXT
These two teams will matchup again tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. inside Hyland Arena.