Men’s volleyball swept Lindenwood University March 27 in the first of their two games against the conference rival.
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Men’s volleyball swept Lindenwood University March 27 in the first of their two games against the conference rival.
The No. 6 Loyola men’s volleyball team swept conference rivals, the Lindenwood University Lions’ in the first of a pair of home matches at Gentile Arena March 27.
Led by redshirt fourth-year outside hitter Parker Van Buren, who notched a match-high 11 kills, the Ramblers turned in their second-best hitting percentage all season at 51.6%.
The visiting Lions’ offense was led by third-year outside hitter Brendan Louthain and second-year middle blocker Owen Walsh who led the net with 50 blocks.
Van Buren started the first set with a kill, quickly followed by the Lions’ redshirt fourth-year outside hitter Jacob Christopher tallying a service error and second-year outside hitter Daniel Fabikovic adding a kill for an early 3-1 Loyola lead.
Third-year middle blocker Brad Bell followed with an ace as Lindenwood grabbed two points off a kill by Louthain who also combined with Walsh for a block assist.
Lindenwood’s third-year setter Zach Solomon setup Louhtain for another point before recording a service error, extending Loyola’s 6-4 lead.
A Fabikovic service error was negated by a kill by second-year outside hitter Jake Read, initiating a back-and-forth which ended after a Louthain point tied it at eight.
Van Buren slammed a kill to jump ahead before both teams traded service errors. Bell extended Loyola’s lead to 11-9 after forcing an attack error, but his next serve went out of bounds, giving the Lions another point.
Read put away another kill and Fabikovic widened Loyola’s lead to 14-11 before the Ramblers forced another Lindenwood attack error.
Third-year setter Ryan McElligott added a kill to put the Ramblers to an 18-14 score.
Lindenwood grabbed a three-point momentum shift shortly after, with graduate outside hitter Carter Stenmark tallying a kill and an ace to force Loyola into a timeout.
Stenmark ended the Lions’ momentum as his next serve sailed out to give Loyola a 19-17 lead.
More Lion errors at the service line from the Lions put the Ramblers at set point at 24-21, before a Van Buren kill two plays later sealed the first set 25-23.
Set two began with a string of errors from both teams before kills by McElligott and Fabikovic pushed the Ramblers ahead 3-2.
Despite a lone kill from Walsh, Loyola jumped further ahead with two kills by Fabikovic, a kill by fourth-year middle blocker Nicodemus Meyer and a Lindenwood attack error.
Lindenwood fought back, and Louthain capitalized on a Solomon assist — but a Lions service error returned momentum to the Ramblers.
With Loyola up four, third-year Lindenwood opposite hitter Ian Schuller notched a point before giving up an attack error, forcing a timeout with the Lions trailing 11-5.
First-year middle blocker Amir Grant secured a point for Lindenwood following the break while Stenmark and Read exchanged errors to widen Loyola’s lead.
Another Schuller attack error was followed by a Bell kill to put the Ramblers in full control at 13-9, with a Van Buren kill countering an attempted response from Stenmark.
McElligott made a service error to give Lindenwood breathing room before a block assist by Fabikovic and Meyer forced the Lions to call their second timeout down 19-11.
Meyer recorded a kill and Walsh scored for Lindenwood. Van Buren responded with a match point kill at 24-13.
A Solomon kill momentarily kept the Lions alive, but Fabikovic finished things with a kill securing the second set 25-14.
The third set started with kills traded between Fabikovic and Stenmark before Stenmark grabbed the lead with another kill.
Loyola gained momentum when McElligott and Meyer combined for a block assist against Stenmark, pushing Loyola ahead 4-2.
The Ramblers continued to apply pressure as attack errors from Louthain and Schuller widened the gap. Despite Schuller momentarily steadying Lindenwood with a kill, a service error from Louthain put Loyola ahead 9-5.
With the Ramblers up late in the set, Lindenwood started to come back with a kill from Stenmark, a point from Walsh and an attack error from Van Buren to creep just within four.
Bell and Schuller traded points and Read committed an attack error, kicking off a series of service errors at 18-16.
Service errors from Stenmark, second-year libero Brenden Schoeberl for the Lions and third-year outside hitter Cooper Evans for the Ramblers closed the gap to 19-17, with the Lions calling a timeout to regroup.
Lindenwood dropped three errors out of the timeout before a point from Fabikovic brought Loyola to a set point at 24-17.
Both Bell and head coach Shane Davis discussed slowing down the opponent. Loyola made fewer service errors than the Lions, who were also struggling from the service line.
“To slow down the opponent last night Lindenwood made a ton of errors, and we knew coming in tonight that they’re going to put more pressure just swinging into the court,” Davis said.
Bell weighed in on the specifics of service practice and how important that is coming into the end of the season
“So every day of practice after a drill, we will have a serving breakout, where float servers go to one court and then top students go to a different court, and just hitting your serve at your speed, and just keep on doing it repetitive until you don’t air,” Bell said.
Read sealed the game by delivering a 25-17 set and match victory for the Ramblers.
The Ramblers return to Gentile Arena to face Lindenwood University Friday, March 28 with the broadcast available on ESPN+.
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