LONG BEACH, CA. – The Lindenwood Men's Volleyball team (0-1, 0-0 MIVA) fell in their season opener on the road at #3 Long Beach State in three sets by scores of 21-25, 16-25, 20-25. Luke Kraft led the Lions in kills with seven in his first game in a Black and Gold uniform while Zach Solomon led the team in assists with 22.

In the first set, both teams went back and forth early. Trailing 6-4, the Lions went on a 4-0 run as Caden Whiteside had a kill during the run to put LU in front 8-6. The Beach responded with an 8-2 run of their own to take control of the first set by a score of 14-10. Amir Grant and Brendan Louthain each had a kill following the LBSU run to cut the deficit to three at 17-14, but the Beach were able to use their run in the middle of the opening set and protect their lead to take the first set by a score of 25-21. In set two, Long Beach State was able to limit the Lions to a hitting percentage of 0.033% and recorded five blocks in the middle set. LBSU won the set by a score of 25-16 and Luke Kraft led the Lions with three kills in the middle frame.

The third set saw the Lions take a 15-13 lead into the media timeout thanks to two kills each from Grant and Kraft. Kraft also had a block assist and solo block in the third set which helped give the Lions the lead in the middle of the set. However, out of the media timeout Long Beach State went on a 7-1 run and took a 20-16 lead. The Beach never gave the lead up after that and went on to complete the sweep over the Lions, winning the final set by a score of 25-20.

Lindenwood will now head to Costa Mesa, CA tomorrow where they will wrap up their first road trip of the season at Vanguard University. First serve is set for 4 p.m. CT.