COSTA MESA – The first-ever battle of the Lions, between Vanguard (1-1) and Lindenwood (1-1), saw the Blue and Gold fall in straight sets (25-18, 25-12, 25-22) Saturday afternoon at the Freed Center. VU never got going in their first loss of the season, as the home side was outhit .429 (39-9-70) to .169 (28-16-71) and outdone from the service line 9-2 by the visiting Lindenwood. The loss marked just the second ever VU loss against a Midwestern opponent (10-2) in program history and first since Vanguard's inaugural season in 2020.

What Happened?
Set 1- Lindenwood led the entire way through the opening frame, with Vanguard's resistance weathered down over the course of the set. VU only committed one more attacking error in the period (6-5), but Lindenwood's rapid-fire pace offered six more total attacks (25-19), resulting in a crisp .320 hitting percentage (13-5-25).

Lindenwood jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Logan Freemon got VU's first point in the contest, going cross-court. LU opened up a 5-2 run, which included their second ace of the set, as well as a solo block (7-3 LU).

The Blue and Gold, who led 3-2 in blocks in the frame, saw momentum at the net triggered by Braddock Duckworth, who clasped a block from the right pin (9-8 LU) to bridge the developing Lindenwood gap. The visitors kept VU struggling to establish a healthy connection in serve receive, disjointing the Blue and Gold with a 7-2 run to pull away. They stormed out to their largest lead (20-12) after their third service ace of the frame and maintained their stride to secure the 25-18 win.

Freemon and Micah Sybesma were the only Lions to net a kill in the closing stages, with Freemon dishing out five of the seven VU kills in the set.

Set 2- Contrary to the opening set, Lindenwood conjured just one service ace, but delivered a match-high .538 (15-1-26) to go up 2-0. VU inched up to .172 (9-4-29) but continued to struggle settling nto a defensive shape in transition to keep LU at bay.

Cole Oliver clipped the first point of the set off a line shot to get the game back underway. Duckworth earned his second kill and forced an overpass with a deadly float serve to hand Grant Veldman an easy party ball through the middle (4-4).

The Black and Gold piled up two kills from the right side and cashed in on their only ace of the set to tally four points unanswered. VU's resulting timeout correlated with an LU service error, and Sybesma swatted down a kill on the shoot set from Brock Henderson to trim the deficit to six (8-6 LU).

Lindenwood wreaked havoc with a 10-3 run to shut down any chance of a Vanguard comeback. VU only errored three times during the run, all from the service line, but could not carve any openings to attack the visitors back. LU punched in their 14th kill of the set to go up by double-figures 20-10. Vanguard ended the set with a pair of substitutions to try and shift their rhythm, with debutant Willy Wang setting up the penultimate VU kill of a 25-12 set loss.

Set 3- The Blue and Gold connected for their match-best .261 (12-6-23) in the game's closest set. Lindenwood, however, managed to finish the job, hitting .421 (11-3-19) and dealing five aces to VU's two.

Colin Such and Koa Laboy each got the start for VU in the third set, with Laboy opening the scoring on VU's first attack. Then, Oliver enjoyed a red-hot serving run, which included Vanguard's first ace of the contest, to qualify a 5-0 lead.

Lindenwood did not panic; in fact, they did not call for a time-out throughout the entirety of the three-set match. Instead, the visitors pushed out two aces to respond and used a VU attack and service error to get on the board (7-5 VU). Vanguard returned to form with more production from Sybesma and a pair of Freemon kills to go up three (11-8).

The shift in momentum came after three tight calls in a row, one of which was reversed, leaving the Blue and Gold with three straight attack errors to surrender the lead. The next four points between each side continued with the erroneous trend, leaving the sides stumped at 14 each.

Laboy's ace resulted in back-to-back points for the freshman and a Vanguard run that led them headstrong into the red zone (20-19 VU). Lindenwood came back with four kills and their final ace of the day to crack open match-point, and the Lions' last attack error made way for the first loss of the season.

Logan Freemon led the Lions with 13 kills, firing a .632 clip on just a single error. Cole was second with six kills and a service ace. Henderson had 21 assists and four digs, while Libero Jacob Bayston tallied six digs and three assists.

What's Next? Vanguard will welcome USC for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation opener on Thursday, Jan. 15, at 7 p.m.