Ball State University

Next Match:

Ball State University

3/26/2026 | 7:00 p.m.


Mar. 26 (Thu) / 7:00 p.m.


 Ball State University

History

CHARLOTTE, NC.- The Lindenwood Men’s Volleyball team (17-3, 8-2 MIVA) won their second straight match in a five set thriller on the road at Queens on Saturday afternoon. Caden Whiteside and Luke Kraft both had 10 or more kills to lead the team offensively as Whiteside finished the five setter with a career-high 19 kills on a hitting percentage of .483, while Kraft added 15 to extend his team-lead in kills. Redshirt Sophomore Luke Koster also had a career day for the Lions as he finished the match with a career-high 42 assists and added a career-high six digs to help Lindenwood improve to 8-2 in the MIVA. 

In the first set, Lindenwood hit .435 as a team and recorded 13 kills en route to a 25-20 win. Walsh and Whiteside each had four kills in the opening set, while Kraft was right behind them with three kills. LU made a late 4-1 run after leading 20-17 thanks to two kills from Walsh and one kill from Jake Schreiner. Koster added a service ace during the run and finished the set with two as Lindenwood grabbed a 1-0 lead. In the second set, the Lions jumped out to an 8-3 lead behind two more kills from Kraft, a service ace from Walsh, and a kill from Amir Grant to take control of the set early on. Queens was able to cut the lead to one point at 13-12, but Lindenwood used their second big run of the set to distance themselves from the Royals. Kraft, Grant, and Schreiner added a key block in the middle of the run to make it 16-12, and Walsh added two more service aces to make the score 20-12. Whiteside recorded the final kill of the set later on to make it 24-16, and the Lions took the second set 25-18 to go up by two sets. 

The third set was close throughout as the largest lead was four in favor of the Royals by a score of 24-20. Jake Schreiner briefly gave Lindenwood a 14-13 lead midway through the set, but Queens was able to respond with a 4-1 run and closed out the set on a 6-2 run to take the middle set 25-20. Similar to set three, the Lions were able to grab a lead by a score of 20-19 after trailing for most of the set, but the Royals ended set four on another 6-2 run and sent the match to a winner take-all set five.

Queens grabbed a 9-6 lead in set five, but Lindenwood dug deep and responded with a 7-2 run to take the lead in the final set by a score of 13-11. Aidan Akkawi was a big part of the crucial run for the Lions as he recorded one assist, one kill, and a service ace to shift the momentum in the set and in the match. Caden Whiteside ended the set with back-to-back kills as LU was able to hang on for the five set win with a 15-13 fifth set victory.

As a team, the Lions hit .318 and had 54 kills for the match and tied their season-high with 41 digs defensively. Lincoln Geist led the way with nine digs, while Luke Kraft had eight and Luke Koster added six. Amir Grant led the team in blocks with three. 

Lindenwood will now return home for their next two MIVA matches beginning on Thursday night against Ball State. First serve is set for 7 p.m. CT.Â