After dropping a pair of close sets to open the match against #24 Cal Poly (3-1), LMU volleyball (3-1) won sets three and four to force a fifth set, but eventually suffered a hard-fought match to the Mustangs, 25-23, 25-22, 19-25, 28-30, 15-12, to open play at the Utah State Invitational from Logan, Utah on Friday morning.

WHAT A MATCH!
LMU and Cal Poly played a back-and-forth thrilling match, as the Lions pushed the 24^th-ranked Mustangs to the limit … the two teams played to 45 total tie scores and 16 lead changes over the course of the five sets … the fourth set alone featured 23 tie scores and seven lead changes.

ANOTHER DOUBLE-DOUBLE FOR KOVAC
Senior Sara Kovac turned in her third double-double in as many matches on Friday, teaming a match-best 23 kills with 11 digs … Kovac also added two block assists, helping LMU to 10 total blocks in the loss.

REID DISHES OUT 66 ASSISTS IN DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Junior setter Tess Reid led all players with 66 assists, pairing that mark with 14 digs for a double-double … Reid set the Lion attack to a .250 hitting percentage … the double-double was Reid's second of the year.

FOURTH SET WAS A THRILLER
While the entire match proved even, the fourth set highlighted the clash … the two teams played to 23 tie scores and seven lead changes … LMU hit .410 in the period, while Cal Poly connected for a .342 clip … neither team held a lead of greater than two points at any point during the set … both teams had set-point chances, with LMU converting on its third opportunity to win … Cal Poly had chances at 24-23, 25-24 and 26-25 … knotted at 28-28, LMU moved to set point on one of Meredith Teague's 15 match kills … Teague and Bo Chulo then combined to stuff Meredith Phillips for one of LMU's three blocks in the fourth set.

BOX SCORE NOTES
Both teams served up four aces, with two coming from Reid, but LMU committed 18 service errors to 12 from Cal Poly … LMU posted 76 digs compared to 55 for the Mustangs … senior Kekai Whitford tallied a match-best 26 digs, while three other Lions finished with double-digit marks … LMU hit .318 and .410 in the two sets it won, but managed just .226, .105 and .125 clips in the other three sets … the Lions committed 33 total attacking errors, while Cal Poly erred just 17 times … in addition to Kovac's match-high 23 kills, LMU received 18 from Savannah Slattery and 15 from Teague … Teague hit .565 on 23 swings with just two errors … Torrey Van Winden paced the Mustang attack with 15 kills … four Cal Poly players closed the match with double-digit kills … Avalon Denecochea dished out 46 assists to accompany two aces and six digs for the Mustangs.

LION NOTES
LMU is now 0-1 in five-set matches this year … went 4-3 in five-set matches last year.

PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS
LMU still has 10 home matches remaining to be played in Gersten Pavilion … members of LMU's Little Lions Club get into all LMU home volleyball matches as part of the membership, while students, faculty and staff with a valid One Card also receive free General Admission access to every home match … to purchase season or single-game tickets, please contact the LMU Box Office at 310-338-5466 or visit LMULions.com/buywvb.

QUOTABLE
"I was really proud of our team's fight after being down 0-2. We put a lot of focus on the defensive end in practice this week, and it paid off in the match. We made too many hitting errors, and against a team like Cal Poly, it makes it even tougher to pull out the win when that happens. A lot of good lessons learned though, and we look forward to competing again this evening." – Head Coach Aaron Mansfield

NEXT ROTATION
LMU will continue play at the Utah State Tournament tonight with a 6 p.m. PT match against host Utah State.