March 15, 2008

Box Score

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - Senior Jared Dayton recorded a match-high 19 kills to propel Lewis over NJIT 3-2 (30-23, 26-30, 30-27, 28-30, 15-9) in a non-conference match at Neil Carey Arena on Saturday evening.

Junior Billy Sahagian notched 13 kills with only three errors. Junior Drew Pickering had 10 kills and two aces. Sophomore Mike Iandolo tallied 49 assists and four aces. Junior libero Nick Perakes had 12 digs.

Junior Alex Vigansky had nine kills and 11 blocks and came up big when it mattered the most. In the fifth and deciding game he notched three kills, committed no errors and recorded five blocks, including his only solo of the match. The Flyers out-hit NJIT .385 to -.150 in the fifth game.

In their game one and three victories the Flyers had to fight from behind. Lewis trailed by four in game one before tying it at 15 with a 5-1 run. A block by Vigansky and freshman Brian Muesenfechter gave the Flyers a 20-18 lead and forced NJIT to call a timeout. After the timeout Iandolo ripped two aces and forced the Highlanders to call another timeout. But the Flyers couldn't be slowed, Lewis added kills by Pickering and Muesenfechter to take a six-point advantage and never look back.

The Flyers jumped out to a 12-6 in game three, but NJIT rallied to take a 22-20 lead after a Pickering service error. Then Pickering followed with a kill to key a 4-0 run and turn the game around.

For NJIT (9-9), Leonardo Paludo had 18 kills.

The Flyers (16-6) return to conference play on Wednesday when they host Ohio State at 7 p.m. It will be a crucial match for the Flyers as the Buckeyes are one game ahead of Lewis in the standings.