Nov. 16, 2007

Box Score

ALLENDALE, Mich. - The No. 17 Lewis Flyers moved on to the Great Lakes Region championship with a 3-2 (21-30, 30-24, 21-30, 30-23, 15-13) victory over No. 20 Indianapolis on Friday evening.

The Flyers fell behind 2-1 to the Greyhounds a night after losing the first two games to Ashland. But with a vocal Lewis following cheering them on, the Flyers wouldn't let their season end and rallied to force a fifth game.

The final game was back and forth till the Flyers took the first two-point lead at 8-6. The Greyhounds scored three of the next four points to take an 11-9 advantage and put Lewis fans on the edge of their seats. Kills by sophomores Stephanie Sagat and Sara deBuhr knotted it at 12.

On the following point it initially looked like Indianapolis grabbed a 13-12 lead after a deBuhr attack attempt was blocked. But officials conferred and changed the call to a blocking error on Indianapolis' Alyssa Carlotte to give the Flyers a one-point advantage.

Freshman Lauren Seliga scored the 14th point to give the Flyers match point. Lewis had their opportunity to end it and sophomore Kim Richards took advantage, recording the final kill.

The way the match ended was a stark contrast to how it began for the Flyers, as the Greyhounds jumped out to an 11-4 lead early in game one. The Flyers rallied with a 5-0 run to make the score 17-13 behind powerful kills by Sagat and Richards. Unfortunately for the Flyers they could get no closer as the Greyhounds pulled away for a game one victory.

Game two was a whole different story. The Flyers jumped out to a 9-5 lead, eventually doubling the Greyhounds at 14-7 on a kill my senior Andrea Morrone. Lewis used several tip kills in the game, exploiting the Indianapolis' middle. Richards recorded seven kills in the game to help the Flyers out-hit the Greyhounds .354 to .185.

The Greyhounds quickly jumped out to a 7-1 lead in game three. Indianapolis stayed strong, eventually taking a 21-11 lead and never looked back.

With their season on the line, Lewis took an early 14-7 lead in game four and cruised to the seven-point victory. Sagat recorded six kills in the win to set up the dramatic fifth game.

Richards finished the match with a team-high 23 kills and four digs.

"Kim was great all night long," head coach Lorelee Smith said. "She really stepped it up."

Sagat recorded 19 kills and 23 digs.

deBuhr added 17 kills, five assisted blocks and three solo blocks.

Morrone recorded 65 assists, two short of her career-high, 26 digs and three kills.

Seliga finished with nine kills and a career-high 26 digs, including multiple diving one handed digs that kept points alive for the Flyers.

"Seliga came up big in the fourth and fifth games," Smith said. "She had a tight swing when it really counted."

The Flyers recorded a season-high 132 digs. Freshman Ashlee Lindish led the team with 31, her third 30 plus dig match of her career.

Junior Lauren Hatter added 17 digs.

"Hatter was great on serve-receive tonight," Smith said. "She really had a strong match."

The Flyers improved to 32-3, the most single season victories since 1981. Indianapolis finishes their season at 33-4. Three of the Greyhounds' losses came at the hands of the Flyers.

The Flyers play for the Great Lakes Region championship at 6 p.m. CT tomorrow against Grand Valley State. The Lakers are the No. 1 seed in the Great Lakes Rregion and No. 6 in the nation with a 32-3 record.