The career night for outside attacker Brendan Loutain ended in walk-off fashion.
Louthain delivered a walk-off match-winning ace to prevent the final game going to overtime as No. 18 Lindenwood upset No. 7/8 Loyola 24-26, 25-20, 28-26, 25-23 on Wednesday in St. Charles, Missouri.
Louthain led all players in the MIVA opener with a career-high 18 kills on a .355 attack percentage. The senior had at least four kills in all four games, including a team-high five kills in the team’s third-game comeback win.
Lindenwood trailed the third game 22-19 before Louthain had two kills during a 4-1 run to tie the game. Louthain also had a kill in the third-game overtime that gave the Lions the advantage and set up the game-winning kill.
Along with the offensive performance, Louthain had a match-high six blocks.
The Lions had three players with double-digit kills en route to extending their winning streak to seven matches.
Outside attacker Caden Whiteside contributed 14 kills on a .367 attack percentage. Opposite Luke Kraft added 11 kills, including having the game-winning kill in the third-game overtime.
Both Whiteside and Kraft also had a team-high two aces as Lindenwood finished with seven aces – three more aces than Loyola.
The defending MIVA champions Loyola despite the loss out-hit Lindenwood .280 to .263.
Loyola opposite Aleksandar Sosa led all players with nine kills in the opening-game victory and finished the match with a team-high 17 kills. In addition, outside attacker Aidan Klein had 10 kills and zero errors on a match-best .667 attack percentage against the Lions.
This is the Lions’ first victory against a top-10 ranked team this season and their second win against a nationally ranked team during their winning streak. Lindenwood upset then-No. 12 CSUN to open its current seven-match homestand.