ST. CHARLES, Mo.- The Lindenwood Men's Volleyball team (6-1, 0-0 MIVA) took down Missouri S&T in four sets on Saturday night to win their sixth straight match. The Lions were led by Brendan Louthain who finished with a match-high 17 kills and a total of 21.5 points as the Senior Outside Hitter added three service aces and three block assists in the victory over the Miners. 

The two teams went back and forth early on in the first set as they traded the first 14 points with the score being 7-7. Missori S&T went on a 6-2 run and gave themselves a 13-9 lead halfway through, but the Lions battled back eventually tying the set at 20 after Louthain recorded his first service ace of the match. Caden Whiteside would tie the set two more times with back-to-back kills to make it 22-22, but the Miners closed out the first set on a 3-1 run and took the set by a score of 26-24. 

In set two, the Lions used an early 6-0 run to open with a 9-4 lead. During the run, Amir Grant picked up two block assists as well as a solo block, while Luke Kraft added two service aces. Missouri S&T got to within one at 16-15 but that would be the closest they would get to tying the set thanks to another Louthain service ace and kill to put the Lions up 19-16 late in the set. Owen Walsh picked up a block assist and a kill to put Lindenwood up 21-17 before Louthain and Kraft closed out the set with back-to-back kills to even up the match at one set apiece as the Lions took set two 25-21. In the third set, LU had two service aces early on from Luke Kraft and Zach Solomon and opened up a 10-6 lead. With the Black and Gold up 12-8, Owen Walsh recorded a kill and a service ace of his own to spark a 4-0 run to put the Lions up 16-8 and LU would have another 4-0 run later in the set behind kills from Caden Whiteside and Amir Grant to take the third set by a score of 25-18. 

With the Lions one set away from their sixth straight win, the Miners came out hot to start the fourth set and used a 7-0 run to grab a 14-11 lead midway through the set. With Missouri S&T up 18-14, Brendan Louthain recorded back-to-back kills to cut the Miner lead down to 18-16. Caden Whiteside and Luke Kraft would then each pick up another kill to put the Lions down one at 19-18 which led to a Lindenwood 3-0 run later in the set behind two more kills from Louthain to put the Lions in front at 21-20. The two squads traded the next several points and with the set tied at 24-24, the Miners committed back-to-back attack errors as Lindenwood held on in the fourth set to win the match. 

Zach Solomon recorded a season-high 50 assists in the win as Lindenwood hit .318 as a team in the contest. Over the last two sets, the Lions were able to hold Missouri S&T to hitting percentages of .105 and .107 while hitting .333 and .250 to take the match. Lindenwood will return to action next week as they will open up MIVA play against Loyola Chicago on Wednesday, February 4 at 7 p.m, inside Hyland Arena.