May 1, 2004

Box Score

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Lewis University will have a chance to defend its 2003 NCAA men's volleyball title.

That's because the Flyers defeated second-seeded Ball State 34-32, 30-24, 26-30, 26-30, 19-17 Saturday night in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association championship match at Ohio State's St. John Arena.

Fifth-seeded Lewis (19-13), which eliminated host and top seed Ohio State Friday in the MIVA semifinals, advances to the four-team NCAA Men's Collegiate Volleyball Championship in Honolulu Thursday and Saturday. The Flyers' semifinal opponent and match time will be announced Sunday.

Penn State won the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association crown earlier Saturday to earn an NCAA bid. Brigham Young - which Lewis defeated to win the 2003 national championship - and Long Beach State met in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title match late Saturday and are expected to join the Flyers and Nittany Lions in the Aloha State.

The MIVA title and NCAA berth are the second in succession and fourth overall for Lewis, which began its men's volleyball program in 1994. The Flyers were eliminated in the national semifinals in 1996 and 1998 before winning the 2003 title.

Jeff Soler followed his 25-kill performance against Ohio State with another huge effort that netted the junior outside hitter tournament Most Valuable Player honors. Soler tallied a match-high 28 kills and had just six errors in 54 attempts for a .407 attack percentage.

Senior Ryan Stuntz and freshman Jared Dayton joined Soler on the all-tournament team. Stuntz collected 12 digs, while Dayton tallied 12 kills, a .357 hitting mark (12-2-28), seven digs and six blocks.

Other big contributors for 13th-ranked Lewis (19-13) were Enrique Escalante (15 kills, .333 attack percentage, four blocks), Fabiano Barreto (12 kills, nine digs), Brandon Sisk (62 assists, six kills, five digs, five blocks) and Greg Pochopien (seven kills, 10 blocks).

In game one, Lewis had three game points and Ball State had one before the Flyers put it away on a Cardinal service error and a Soler kill.

After Ball State (22-9) took a 15-13 edge into the media break in game two, Lewis rattled off 10 straight points, the last nine on Barreto's serve, to take a commanding 23-15 lead. Seven of those points were scored on Ball State attack errors.

The Cardinals, ranked 11th nationally, fought back to even the match at two games apiece, then rallied from a 10-7 deficit in game five to force the game past the 15-point mark. But Lewis steadied the ship to earn its third victory over Ball State this season and a return trip to the national tournament. Lewis hit .331 for the match to Ball State's .320 and outblocked the Cardinals 19-12. Ball State earned a 59-42 advantage in digs.

Jary Delgado led Ball State with 27 kills and was joined in double figures by Amitai Sasson (19), Patrick Durbin (18) and Andrew Braley (16). Evan Berg had a match-high 22 digs.