The Lindenwood and McKendree men's volleyball teams matched up in a defensive battle on Wednesday night in Hyland Arena. The Bearcats prevailed with a 3-2 victory by scores of 26-24, 25-15, 14-25, 23-25, and 15-13.

The two programs went to a fifth set after splitting the first four, with both teams winning one close set and one by a blowout. Lindenwood hit just .061 in the first two sets, but got back into the match after hitting .365 in sets three and four.

In the deciding fifth set, the momentum went back-and-forth throughout the final half of the game. With the score tied at eight, McKendree scored two straight points on back-to-back Lindenwood errors. The Lions answered though with a 4-0 run to take a 12-10 lead. Jake Duckworth had two kills and a block in that spurt. Ryan Moore also had a kill and Michael Chard served to start play for three of those points.

The Bearcats came right back though with a 4-0 run of their own. After tying the game with two straight kills, McKendree recorded back-to-back blocks to set up match point. Lindenwood got within one at 14-13, but a Lions serving error ended the match. Lindenwood hit just .056 for the final set.

Both teams hit just under .200 for the match, and the Bearcats had four more kills and eight more digs. Lindenwood outblocked the MIVA's number one blocking team by a 15-11 margin, and it also had three more service aces.

The Lions received 35 of their 50 kills between Moore and Duckworth. Duckworth had 17 kills and also led the team with four service aces and 23.5 points. Moore had a team-high 18 kill, and recorded 19.5 points. Connor Hipelius had nine blocks and finished with 14 points. Adam Brewster came off the bench to lead the team with 31 assists, and he also had seven digs. Ryan Vorderer led the team in digs with nine.

Lindenwood falls to 2-8 overall and 0-4 in MIVA play. The Lions start a three-match road trip on Saturday at Quincy.