Box Score (ST. CHARLES, Mo., April 1)—The McKendree University men's volleyball team battled to the finish in a five-set slugfest Wednesday night at Lindenwood University, but the Bearcats were edged in five sets by the host Lions. Lindenwood took the contest by scores of 25-20, 25-27, 22-25, 25-20 and 15-13.
McKendree slips to 11-15 overall and is now 1-11 in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. The Bearcats will close out a quick two-match road trip Thursday evening with another MIVA contest at Quincy University. Match time is set for 7 p.m.
Freshman opposite
Jared Wilcox (Warrenville, IL/Wheaton-Warrenville South) led a group of four McKendree players who reached double figures in kills with 18. Sophomore middle blocker
Wyatt Patterson (Flossmoor, IL/Homewood-Flossmoor) put down 12 attacks and added five assisted blocks, while sophomore right-side hitter
Maalik Walker (Shorewood, IL/Minooka) and freshman outside hitter
Nolan Rueter (Burlington, WI/Burlington) chipped in with 10 kills apiece. Freshman setter
Pasquale Fiduccia (Hanover Park, IL/Glenbard North) handed out a match-high 50 assists, while Rueter handled 12 digs in the back row for the Bearcats.
After dropping the first set to Lindenwood, McKendree bounced back to take the second set and even the match. The Bearcats jumped out to a 9-2 advantage in the set before the Lions clawed their way back into contention and used a 6-1 run to grab its first lead of the game at 19-18. The teams traded the next several points until a kill by Patterson put McKendree at the brink of victory at 25-24. Lindenwood quickly knotted the score before the Bearcats took advantage of a service error and attack error to pull even heading into the intermission.
The third set featured a match-high 11 ties and five lead changes, all of which came in the first half of the set. Things were all square at 13-13 before McKendree scored five of the next six points – which included two kills from Rueter and a pair of blocks each from Patterson and Walker – to edge out to an 18-14 lead. The Lions pulled as close as 19-18 when the Bearcats used two kills from Wilcox to pull away and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Lindenwood fought off McKendree's attempt to close out the match in the fourth set. The Bearcats were within a point at 19-18 when the Lions reeled off three straight points to build a 22-18 advantage on their way to tying the match at two sets each and forcing a fifth set. McKendree took its final lead of the night at 10-9 thanks to a kills from Wilcox off a pass from Fiduccia. Lindenwood responded by scoring the next three points to take the lead for good.
Colin Hackworth led Lindenwood (11-8, 6-6 MIVA) with a match-high 28 kills. Roman Seghezzi added 46 assists and 11 digs for the Lions. Thomas Cruz and Kyle Overby each put down six blocks against McKendree.
