Nov. 9, 2007

Box Score

INDIANAPOLIS - The Lewis Flyers took their first step towards back-to-back Great Lakes Valley Conference titles with a 30-25, 30-18, 30-21 sweep of the Missouri-St. Louis Tritons in the quarterfinals of the GLVC Tournament on Friday afternoon.

"I'm very proud of the team," head coach Lorelee Smith said after the victory. "UMSL came out with a new lineup and the girls adjusted and stayed with what they had to do."

The Flyers took control of game one with a 10-2 run after the score was tied at four. The Tritons creeped within three points at 26-23 but sophomore Sara deBuhr registered two of the Flyers' final four points to end the game.

The Flyers stayed hot in game two, taking an early 6-1 advantage and never looking back back. Lewis out-hit the Tritons .410 to .188 in the game.

As Lewis looked to finish off the match the Tritons had other ideas, taking an early 9-5 lead. However the Flyers responded to eventually tie the game at 12. It was back and forth until the Flyers scored 10 straight points to take a 26-17 advantage and never look back.

Missouri-St. Louis limited sophomore Stephanie Sagat to only three kills in the first two games but the third was a different story. The All-GLVC second team outside hitter recorded seven kills in the final game to help the Flyers come back and put away the Tritons.

With Sagat stymied early the Flyers saw others step up. Junior Justina Begemann came off the bench to record eight kills and two block assists.

Sophomore Kim Richards recorded a match-high 15 kills while deBuhr added 11.

"Our two middles (Richards and deBuhr) and right side (Begemann) played phenomenal all three games," Smith said. "It is great to know that if teams focus on Sagat we can still have a solid attack."

Senior Andrea Morrone came within three kills of a triple-double recording 48 assists, ten digs and 7 kills.

Defensively freshman Ashlee Lindish recorded a match-high 18 digs. Freshman Lauren Seliga notched double-digits with 10.

The Flyers' bench contributed as well, with sophomore Christina Avilina adding three kills and freshman Staci Paul subbing in to serve.

"Christina (Avilina) and Staci (Paul) were subbed in and were perfect," Smith said. " They did exactly what was asked of them."

The Flyers improved to 28-3, the most single season wins since the 1988 squad went 31-9.

Lewis out-hit the Tritons .313 to .172. The Flyers have held 15 of their last 16 opponents to sub .200 hitting percentages.

The Flyers play SIU Edwardsville on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. CT in the Semifinals. SIU Edwardsville defeated Drury in five games on Friday afternoon. The Cougars are the only GLVC team Lewis has not defeated this season.