In its first full season as a member of the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association, the Lindenwood men's volleyball team knew that it wanted to exceed expectations that others in the volleyball world had set in place for it. One of those preseason expectations included a seventh-place pick out of eight in the MIVA preseason coaches' poll, coming just ahead of Quincy in votes.

One of the highlights of the 2013 season that no one other than those on the Lindenwood bench expected in the least was the three-set home victory over No. 7 Lewis on Friday, March 22, marking one of the biggest wins in program history. The Lions won by scores of 25-23, 26-24 and 26-24.

February 8 marked the first conference match between Lewis and Lindenwood, and it was a match that the Lions could only improve upon. Playing on their home court, the Flyers defeated the Lions in straight sets by scores of 25-20, 25-18, and 25-10. After the first meeting of the 2013 season, Lewis appeared to look at a Lindenwood match as an easy win and a team that it could walk all over.

Lewis, a powerhouse program in the MIVA as well as the NCAA, was thrown completely off-guard when it walked into Hyland Arena on that Friday evening.

"We knew what we needed to do coming into the match, and we knew that they didn't really respect us the first time we played them," said junior middle hitter Scott Siwicki. "We really wanted to try and make a statement coming in."

Lindenwood proved the Flyers' otherwise. Behind the lead of Siwicki and sophomore opposite hitter Colin Hackworth, the Lions stepped up their game to take down the No. 7 team in the nation in the second regular season meeting of 2013.

"Before hand, we talked about how we really hadn't stepped up to the plate against this team," said head coach Ron Young. "During the season we went to their place and maybe 10 to 15 percent of the time we played the way we could play. I challenged them to step up to the plate and I told them that it's our home court, let's show them who we are."

After warm-ups, the Lions returned to the locker room for a final pregame ritual with just players to discuss the final thoughts leading into the match.

"A couple of our captains said that this is the game that people are going to be looking at," said Siwicki. "They said this is when we need to step up and make a name for ourselves."

After the successful and determined pregame, Lindenwood came out with great energy and quickly found themselves up 7-4 early in the first set. The three-point lead that Lindenwood owned early in the set grew to as many as five after a service ace by Michael Adams that put the Lions up 17-12.

Lewis prompty answered back with three straight points of its own to come within two. After a kill by Siwicki to end Lewis' three-point run, Lindenwood started to see its five-point advantage dwindle down to zero as the Flyers stormed back to tie up the set at 19-all.

Despite allowing two more ties, the Lions never relinquished their lead in the first set. With back-to-back kills by Adams and Hackworth that set the Lions up with set point, the Flyers' Jay Petty recorded a service error that solidified Lindenwood's set one victory.

With a frustrated Lewis bench and emotions riding high for the Lions, Lindenwood had to work even harder to keep Lewis within reach in the second set. The Lions kept up with the Flyers early in the set, remaining tied at 7-7 following a kill by Hackworth. Once tying the set up after Hackworth's kill, Lindenwood once again found itself in a hole, down four after a 6-2 run by the Flyers. The momentum remained for the Lewis side of the floor for a few more possessions before three-straight Lindenwood points forced a Lewis timeout at 15-14 in favor of the Flyers.

Promptly out of the timeout, Hackworth recorded his second service ace in three attempts to tie the game up at 15-all. From there on out the set resulted in the ultimate seesaw battle between the two squads as seven more ties and two lead changes in the final 20 points of the set occurred. Lindenwood finished the Flyers off by taking three out of the final four points of the set, including Adams' third service ace of the evening to end the set.

"Our statement all year was if we won the first two or if we lost the first two, the hardest set to win is the third set," stated Young. "To win 3-0 is really hard because usually teams will tend to sit back and just figure, 'oh we've got this' instead of just playing at that same high level."

The Lions knew what need to get accomplished in the third set. The ultimate question was if they could prove it to themselves to get the job done.

Through the first 20 points of the third set, the two squads were all tied up at 10-all before tables started turning in ways that most people wearing black and gold in Hyland Arena that evening had hoped would never happen.

Lewis capitalized on a pair of kills and a pair of service aces as well as a Lindenwood attack error to quickly take a 15-10 lead. Lewis' run halted after a service error, but the Flyers continued to hold a three to five point lead over the Lions heading into the final points of the set.

Three-straight points with kills by Adams and Siwicki cut the Lewis lead to just two at 21-19 and gave the Lindenwood bench hope that those tables could be turned back in favor of the Lions. Lindenwood proceeded to take six out of the final seven and ten out of the final 13 points to regain the momentum and close out the match with a 26-24 set three victory.

"I was proud of the way they played, they didn't play scared," said Young. "We took chances that pretty much forced an issue with their side."

Junior setter Tim Schmidt was a strong contributor to the success of the Lindenwood offense as he recorded 35 assists as well as three kills of his own. The Lions hit .315 as a team in the match while holding the Flyers to just a .231 mark for the match and a .103 clip in the third set.

"I remember when it was over, it was a huge pressure off of my shoulders," stated Hackworth. "I was nervous going into it because I wanted to have a good night for the team."

Hackworth had one of the most impressive matches of his sophomore season, concluding the evening with a team-high 18 kills with only four errors at a .389 hitting percentage. Siwicki added nine kills on just 12 attempts and Adams finished the evening with eight kills, three service aces and a team-high eight digs.

"I've never had a comparable feeling to that moment when we won and the match was over," said Hackworth. "It felt like a milestone in my career, playing as well as I did and as well as the team did overall. I felt like we played to our potential for those three sets. It was just a great moment of success and happiness."

Not only did Lindenwood shock the volleyball world by picking up its biggest victory in its NCAA-era, it also would have earned the fifth seed in the MIVA Championships had it the ability to compete in postseason. The Lions ended the 2013 season with a 19-12 overall record and 5-7 mark in the MIVA.

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