ST. CHARLES, MO. - The Lindenwood men's volleyball team fought hard in a heartbreaking five-set loss to the Loyola Ramblers on Saturday night in Hyland Arena. 

OVERVIEW
Lindenwood looked strong on their home court right from the jump, not letting Loyola walk away with anything easy. Despite various attempts to put the Lions in a deeper hole, the Ramblers were only able to escape the set with a narrow 22-25 victory, giving the Lions plenty of room to build and make a comeback. 

Set two was even closer than the first, with Lindenwood never letting the Ramblers get out in front by more than four points at any point during the set. The teams' stat lines were nearly identical, like Lindenwood's 13 kills, .250 hitting percentage edging Loyola's 11 kills, .240. Service errors would ultimately get the best of the Lions, as they posted seven versus Loyola's three. However, the margin of victory was a very slight 23-25 at the conclusion of the set, again leaving plenty of room for the Lions to turn the tables.

The Lions used their 0-2 deficit to propel them into a dominant style of play throughout the entirety of the third set, which was highlighted by the team's .440 hitting percentage as opposed to Loyola's .074. Players like Carter Stenmark and Kyle Deutschmann started really coming up huge for the Lions all over the court, while others like Connor Sheehan, Ian Schuller and Rashawn Bonner brought a steady, consistent presence that was also a huge part of the Lions' success. Set three would result in a swift 25-17 Lindenwood victory, and now the fourth set was truly up for grabs. 

In true Lindenwood fashion, set four was one for the books. There was a fun mix of longer rallies, fully-utilized challenges and more huge moments from individual players that would ultimately push set four into overtime. The Lions came out on top in a dramatic 30-28 victory, heading into the final set with an already awe-inspiring performance at work.

It wouldn't be until the very end of the fifth set that the Lions would begin to lose that spark, considering they started out with a 7-2 lead that forced Loyola into back-to-back timeouts. The Ramblers were able to close the gap significantly, tying things up at 10-10 before putting just enough pressure on the Lions to prevent them from getting the comeback victory. A heartbreaking 12-15 loss would wrap up the match for Lindenwood, who fought all the way down to the wire against one of the top teams in the conference every year. 

LEADERS
Carter Stenmark (17 K, .229 A%, 7 DIGS, 2 BLK )
Ian Schuller (14 K, .303 A%, 13 DIGS)
Rashawn Bonner (9 K, 3 ACE, 4 DIGS)

UP NEXT
The Lions will head to McKendree for their first conference road game of the year on Thursday. Start time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Lebanon, Illinois.