March 2, 2005

Final Stats

LOS ANGELES-Lewis' Jeff Soler tallied 26 kills and had a match-high 31 points, but it wasn't enough as the Lewis University men's volleyball team fell in five games to USC.

The Trojans' Joao Grangeiro had 21 kills to lead the USC men's volleyball team to a 26-30, 30-19, 30-23, 28-30, 15-12 win over No. 15 Lewis in a non-conference match on Tuesday (March 1) in the North Gym.

USC led 10-9 in the fifth game before blocking the Flyers for the next two points, allowing the Trojans to some breathing room to close out the match.

For Lewis, Soler hit .391 to go along with four digs, three blocks and two aces. Jared Dayton added 17 kills with six digs, Enrique Escalante had 15 kills and five digs, Greg Pochopien had 10 kills (hitting .444) with five blocks and J.J. Castellano had a match-leading 11 digs.

The Trojans, who snapped a 5-match losing streak, improved to 5-14, while Lewis fell to 8-7.

Grangeiro, who hit .400, also had 5 digs, 3 blocks and 2 aces, while teammates Chris McKniff and Andrew Vernon each had 10 kills (McKniff hit .769 and Vernon .381) and Fernando Barron added 9 kills and 5 blocks. Vernon had a match-high 7 blocks, while McKniff contributed 4 blocks.

USC hit .358 to Lewis' .277 and outblocked the Flyers, 14.5 to 8.0.

Lewis continues play on its West Coast spring break trip when it takes on 2004 NCAA runner-up Long Beach State March 2 at 7 p.m. (PST).