MUNCIE, IN. - The Lindenwood Men's Volleyball team (9-2, 3-1 MIVA) fell on the road at #9 Ball State on Friday night in four sets. Luke Kraft recorded a match-high 15 kills in the match, but it wasn't enough as the Cardinals defense ended the match with 10 blocks and limited Lindenwood to a hitting percentage of .204 in the contest. 

Kraft had nine kills in the opening set to set the tone early. The Junior Opposite Hitter had three straight kills for the Lions in the middle part of the set to give them a 13-11 lead. Lindenwood used a late 3-0 run behind one kill from Caden Whiteside and two more kills coming from Kraft to open up their largest lead of the set at 19-15, and held on to win the opening set 25-21 with Kraft ending the first set with a kill. However, Ball State hit .333 in the second set while the Lions hit .036 as the Cardinals evened up the match at one by taking the second set 25-16. 

In set three, the Cardinals used a late 7-1 run after Brendan Louthain and Whiteside had back-to-back kills to cut the BSU lead to 11-7, and took the third set 25-14. In the fourth set, both teams battled early on with the score being tied at 6-6 after Amir Grant got a huge kill early on. The Cardinals followed the Grant kill with a 6-1 run and grabbed a 12-7 lead midway through the set, and added on to their lead later in the set to take the fourth set by a score of 25-14. 

Despite the loss, the defense picked up 34 digs which was their second-highest in a match this season. Amir Grant led the Lions with a .462 hitting percentage and added eight kills while tying for the team-high in blocks with two alongside Luke Kraft. Lindenwood will be back in action next week as they will host McKendree next Thursday night at 6 p.m. for their next MIVA match.