Box Score CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa--Lawrence Tech faced a formidable opponent Tuesday in its first-ever NAIA Men's Volleyball Championship Tournament match here at Alliant Energy PowerHouse, where the 10th-ranked Blue Devils fell to defending national champion Vanguard-Calif. (15-3), 3-0, in the first match of Pool B. The set scores were 25-14, 25-14, 25-21.

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Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference tournament champion Lawrence Tech (15-15) will next face off against No. 7 Georgetown-Ky. (24-6) at 2 p.m. Eastern (1p Central) on Wednesday.

Redshirt junior Brendon Down led LTU with six kills and classmate JT McCarthy had five (.364). Graduate student Matheus Andrade led all players with nine digs as Down produced six, and sophomore Nathaniel Brownlee added 18 assists.

Will Anderson led the Lions with a match-best 14 kills on a .385 attack percentage and six service aces. Glen Linden III chipped in eight total blocks and four kills.

The Vikings controlled most of the match and prevented LTU from getting in sync on offense. Vanguard hit .397 while managing to hold the Blue Devils to a season-low minus-.016. The second-seeded team in the nation claimed an 11-point opening set by outhitting LTU .474 to minus-.167.

Vanguard also took an 11-point win in Set 2 with a blistering .500.

Lawrence Tech didn't back down and darted to an 8-3 run--on the strength of three Down kills--to open the third set. Vanguard, however, regrouped and used a 10-0 scoring run of its own to take back the lead 13-8. The Blue Devils kept battling and got within 19-18 before the Vikings won the match by winning six of the last nine points to close the set.