Ryan Ladika/MDN Berkley Lundeen (10) goes up for a kill attempt during the first set of the Lions’ 3-1 victory over Des Lacs-Burlington Tuesday night.

The Bishop Ryan Lions volleyball team knew it had a tough test ahead of them with the visiting Des Lacs-Burlington Lakers, a team the Lions had beaten only once before in head coach Nicholas Theis tenure, but the Lions outlasted the Lakers in a hotly-contested four sets 14-25, 25-22, 25-16, 26-24.

The Lions had to crawl out of an early hole Tuesday night, as kills by Lakers middle hitter Emily DeGree and some timely blocked helped ignite a 10-2 run to begin the first set for Burlington.

Ryan head coach Nicholas Theis called an early timeout to help his team regroup, and the Lions settled into the match. Ryan outside hitter Sydney Upton added a kill and an ace to stop the relentless Laker run.

The two squads went back and forth after the Upton contributions, as a block and two Kaelyn Bachmeier kills got the Lakers back on the scoreboard. Braelyn Deeter found the scoresheet for Ryan, and Rachel Ralph struck back for the Lakers.

Two more Upton kills and another by Sabryn Ronning pulled the Lions to within eight points at 17-9, and after two more Burlington scores, Ryan rattled off a 5-1 stretch with help from a Berkley Lundeen block and an Alena Johannsen kill to pull the score to 20-14 in favor of the Lakers.

Burlington took control from that point on, as Bachmeier and Krysta Berard helped the Lakers to a 5-0 run, closing out the first set with a 25-14 win.

The Lions got off to a much faster start in the second set, jumping out to an 11-3 lead with help from a handful of Lakers miscues. Burlington received an assist from a light fixture hanging from the ceiling that disrupted a Ryan play and halted its run, and the two teams again embarked on a tightly-played set.

Neither scored more than two consecutive points until the Lakers, down 17-10, closed the gap with help from DeGree and Paige Berard. Burlington went on a 9-3 run to pull within 19-20. The Lions were able to close the set out this time, authoring a set-clinching 5-3 run ended by a Haley Buck kill to tie the match at one set apiece with a 25-22 win.

The Lions only got stronger as the match wore on, taking the third set by a more comfortable 25-16 victory before outlasting the Lakers 26-24 in the fourth set, clinching the second win over Burlington in Theis’ career.

The final set saw both teams rattle off lengthy runs after Ryan opened up an early 11-4 lead thanks in part to four Upton kills. A Lakers block and another Krysta Berard kill helped kickstart a 6-0 stretch for Burlington, and Chinelo Udekwe added four kills in the span of five points to give the Lions a 16-10 advantage.

The Lakers were not finished, tearing off an 8-0 run to take a slim 18-17 lead, and the squad later pushed the Lions to the brink of a fifth set with a 24-22 lead.

Upton, Udekwe and Lundeen helped the Lions to a clutch 4-0 stretch with their backs against the wall, and Ryan took the match 26-24 and the game three sets to one.

Upton recorded a game-high 24 kills for the Lions, followed by Lundeen’s 12. DeGree led the Lakers with 16, and Krysta Berard also notched 14.