FORT VALLEY, Ga. - The Lindenwood Men's Volleyball team (11-2, 4-1 MIVA) swept Fort Valley State on Friday night by scores of 25-20, 25-22, and 25-18.
Caden Whiteside led the Lions with a match-high 12 kills in the contest on a hitting percentage of .667, while
Owen Walsh added 10 kills and hit .471. Lindenwood finished the match hitting .313 as a team with 41 kills on 83 attempts and also totaled 39 assists and eight service aces. Defensively, the Lions finished the match with 28 digs, and limited the Wildcats to a .118 hitting percentage.
The opening set was tight early, featuring multiple ties as neither team could build separation. The score was even at 17-17 before Lindenwood created space late. A service ace from
Zach Solomon and key kills from
Caden Whiteside,
Owen Walsh, and
Brendan Louthain fueled a 6-2 run that led to Lindenwood taking the first set by a score of 25-20. Set two was also close throughout, with the teams battling through 16 different ties. After the score reached 22-22, Lindenwood once again executed down the stretch. Louthain delivered two late kills and sealed the set with a service ace to put the Lions up two sets to none.
Luke Kraft and
Amir Grant also added a service ace during the set, while Grant and Whiteside provided big kills with the set tied at 14-14 and 16-16 to not allow the Wildcats to make a run and to give Lindenwood a one point lead after each kill.
The third set saw
Zach Solomon spark a 6-0 opening run from the service line, recording two aces to give the Lions immediate control.
Caden Whiteside and
Owen Walsh continued to lead the offense by each picking up two early kills, while the defense added two blocks early on to build an 11-7 lead. The last block of the set, which came from Whiteside and Grant, sparked a 7-3 run that put Lindenwood up 18-10. The Lions would go on to complete the sweep over Fort Valley State by winning the final set by a score of 25-18.
The Lions will play their final match of February tomorrow night at Fort Valley State with first serve set for 5 p.m. CT.
