Athletics Headlines: Men's Volleyball falls to Lindenwood at National Tourney

« Missouri Baptist’s Cary and Groves Recognized as TrackBrain.com’s National Assistant Coaches of the Year | Main | Men's Volleyball Eliminated from Tourney Play »

April 21, 2006

Men's Volleyball falls to Lindenwood at National Tourney

RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- The top-seed Lions of Lindenwood rolled past third-seed Missouri Baptist 30-18, 30-27, 30-27 in Pool B action Thursday night at the 2006 NAIA Men’s Volleyball National Invitational Tournament.

The win propels the Lions into the semifinals for the seventh straight tournament as they wrap up first place in Pool B and improve to 35-3 in the process. The Spartans drop to 19-8 and will play Newman (Kan.) tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. for a spot in the semifinals and the right to meet California Baptist.

The Lions, who are looking for their first-ever tournament title, set the tone early in the match. They never trailed in the opening game, and turned a 14-12 lead into a comfortable 21-12 lead with 7 straight points. Missouri Baptist committed 5 attack errors, including 3 straight during the spurt. Deimeke capped the run with a kill, and the Lions never led by less than 8 points the rest of the way. In the opening game alone, Lindenwood hit .476, committing just one attack error.

Matt Mahoney led Missouri Baptist with 13 kills, and Joel May added 11.

The second game was nip and tuck with the largest lead for either team only swelling to 2 points. Missouri Baptist led 24-23 on a kill by Phil Goedeker, but the Lions responded with 3 straight kills, 2 from Ryan Nicklas, and one from Deimeke, to take a 26-24 lead. The Spartans tied it at 26-26, but Kevin McLear recorded a pair of kills to lift the Lions to a 2-0 lead.

McLear had 8 kills, and Jared Krieinkamp finished with 6 kills, 3 digs and 3 blocks.