May 7, 2004

Final Stats

HONOLULU - Lewis University's dream of winning a second consecutive NCAA men's volleyball title ended Thursday night as top-ranked Brigham Young defeated the Flyers 30-21, 30-28, 30-21 in the NCAA Championship semifinals.

Lewis, ranked 9th nationally, concluded the season with a 19-14 record. BYU (28-4) advanced to play Long Beach State in Saturday's championship match.

A 5-0 BYU run in game one gave the Cougars a 7-2 lead, and the Flyers drew no closer than three points the rest of the way. Lewis hit just .069 in the opening stanza.

Exactly the same scenario happened at the outset of game two, only this time the Flyers charged back and took the lead.

Jeff Soler (Delray Beach, Fla./Spanish River)'s service ace capped a 4-0 Lewis run that tied the game at 13. BYU tallied five of the next six points for an 18-14 advantage, only to see the Flyers do the same to gain a 19-all deadlock.

Lewis claimed its first lead at 21-20 on successive kills by Soler and Fabiano Barreto but couldn't stretch the margin to more than a point. With the game tied at 28, BYU's Jonathan Alleman launched a cross-court attack that appeared wide but was ruled in, and the Cougars closed the game with a block.

The Flyers owned a 16-14 edge in game three before a 5-0 BYU spurt shifted the momentum back to the Cougars. A Soler kill interrupted the run momentarily, but another 5-0 surge put the game and the match in BYU's control.

Soler led the Flyer offense with 12 kills and a .360 hitting percentage, while Barreto collected 11 kills and hit .259. Lewis hit .182 as a team.

Jared Dayton and Greg Pochopien each had three blocks, and Barreto and Ryan Stuntz registered six digs apiece to pace the Lewis defensive effort.