The Lindenwood men's volleyball team's push for a conference tournament championship came up short Saturday afternoon. The Lions fell to Missouri Baptist 30-19, 30-26, 36-34 in the championship match of the 2010 MAMVIC West Volleyball Tournament.
After picking up a 3-1 win over the Spartans back in February, Lindenwood has dropped three straight to its cross-town rivals.
Missouri Baptist dominated all facets of the match. The Spartans hit .376 as team and converted seven service aces compared to one for Lindenwood. The Spartans limited Lindenwood to a .224 hitting percentage, one of its lowest marks of the season.
The Lions forced game point on four occasions in the third set, but were never able to slam the door shut. Three straight points by the Spartans ended in any hopes of Lindenwood extending the match.
Jack Mitchell led the Lions with 12 kills and
Rick Hess added nine.
Mike Warren chipped in with eight.
Carson Grissinger manufactured 21 assists and
Mike Larson had 19. Defensively,
Mike Emerick and
Andrew Hock each record six digs. Hess netted a team-high four blocks.
Lindenwood held off Park University in five sets Friday night to advance to the championship match of the 2010 MAMVIC West Volleyball Tournament. The Lions won by scores of 30-27, 30-22, 32-34, 19-30, 16-14.
Lindenwood forced match point in the third set, but Park rallied to win the game, and followed that up by winning the fourth set. In the final frame, Lindenwood edged Park to give the team its first victory over the Pirates this season.
Earlier on Friday, Lindenwood swept Missouri Valley during the first match of the 2010 MAMVIC West Volleyball Tournament. The Lions won by scores of 30-24, 32-30, 30-23.
The turning point came in the second set when Missouri Valley had set point at 30-29.
Luke Knowlson tied the game with a kill and then Lindenwood earned its own set point after a block by Hess and Warren.
JM Plummer then put the Lions up 2-0 with a kill. After that, the third set was all Lindenwood as it jumped out to a 14-4 lead and was never threatened down the stretch.
Lindenwood was led by a defense that held the Vikings to just .117 hitting for the match. The Lions hit just over .200 and had seven more blocks, eight more digs, and six less serving errors.
Mitchell led the team with 10 kills and a .563 hitting percentage. Plummer finished with nine kills, Hess had eight, and Knowlson and Warren each put down seven. Larson had a team-high 23 assists, Emerick collected 13 digs, and Hess paced the squad with six blocks.
Lindenwood (21-13, 7-5) must hope for an outside chance of being selected to the NAIA National Tournament to continue its season.