ST. CHARLES, Mo. - The Lindenwood Men's Volleyball team (7-1, 1-0 MIVA) picked up their second ranked win of the season and their first win in the MIVA on Wednesday night with a four set upset win over #7 Loyola Chicago by scores of 24-26, 25-20, 28-26, 25-23. Brendan Louthain led the Lions offensively for the second match in row as the Senior Outside Hitter recorded a match-high 18 kills on a hitting percentage of .355. Louthain also added six blocks and one service ace to help lead the Lions to a 1-0 start in conference play for the first time since the 2023 season. 

In the opening set, the Ramblers started with a 9-4 lead behind seven early kills. After Loyola committed a service error to make it 9-5, Brendan Louthain and Caden Whiteside combined for three kills over the next five points for Lindenwood to even the set at 10-10. The Lions eventually took a 16-13 lead after Amir Grant, Luke Kraft, and Louthain all combined for a block, but the Ramblers responded with a 5-2 run to tie up the set once again at 18-18. Owen Walsh and Luke Kraft each had a kill late in the set to give the Lions the lead at 22-21 and 23-22, but Loyola would make a late run and take the opening set by a score of 26-24.

In the second set, both teams traded points early on with the score being tied at 6-6 before the Lions went on their first run of the set to take a 9-6 lead behind two kills from Whiteside and a service ace from Grant. Lindenwood maintained their three point lead until the middle of the set when LU broke open the set by using a 4-0 run to take an 18-11 lead behind one kill and one block each from Louthain and Grant. The Ramblers cut the deficit down to three at 23-20, but Owen Walsh recorded a kill and Loyola committed an attack error as the Lions tied up the set at one apiece by taking set two 25-20. 

Similar to set two, both squads traded points back-and-forth for most of the beginning of set three with the score being tied at 10-10 almost halfway through. Loyola Chicago went on a 5-1 run following the tie to take a 15-11 lead in the middle of the set and pushed their lead out to as much as six by a score of 20-14. However, Lindenwood did what they have done all season so far and roared all the way back by using an 8-2 run to even the third set at 22-22. During the 8-2 run, Caden Whiteside, Luke Kraft, and Brendan Louthain each added a kill while Louthian picked up another block to highlight the run. Louthain followed the tie by delivering a kill to give the Lions their first lead of the set by a score of 23-22. Both teams traded the next five points which gave the Ramblers a one point lead at 26-25 for set point. Loyola committed a service error that evened the set at 26 before Louthain and Kraft sealed the third set victory by picking up a kill to give Lindenwood the two sets to one lead through three sets played. 

In the fourth set, Lindenwood continued their momentum from the previous set by starting out on a 7-2 run behind two kills from Whiteside and two blocks from the defense to give the Lions a cushion early on in the final set. Loyola cut into the Lion lead and made it 11-8, but Louthan and Zach Solomon recorded a kill to give Lindenwood a 13-8 lead and pushed their lead back out to five. Later in the set, the Ramblers went on a 6-2 run to cut the deficit to one point at 19-18 in favor of the Lions. Whiteside ended the run by adding another kill and followed his kill with a service ace to put the Lions up three late in the set. Loyola eventually evened the set at 23-23, but another service error was committed by the Ramblers that gave Lindenwood a chance to close out the match with a service ace. Brendan Louthain would do just that as he recorded his only service ace of the match on the final point of the fourth set to give the Lions the upset victory over #7 Loyola Chicago. 

As a team, Lindenwood hit .263 on 53 kills and seven service aces. Defensively, Louthain led the way with six blocks while Owen Walsh, Amir Grant, and Luke Kraft each added three blocks. Zach Solomon tied for the match-high in assists with 45 and surpassed 2,000 career assists in the match against the Ramblers. 

Lindenwood will now return to action on Friday night at 6 p.m. for their next MIVA match inside Hyland Arena as the Lions will welcome in #11 Lewis.