March 22, 2009

Box Score

LORETTO, Pa. - Senior libero Nick Perakes (Orlando, Fla./Cypress Creek) became Lewis' career digs leader during No. 11 Lewis' 3-1 (25-30, 30-26, 30-24, 30-20) victory at St. Francis (Pa.) on Sunday afternoon.

Perakes finished with nine digs to increase his career total to 894, one better than Victor Rivera's 893 from 1996-99.

"It is a testament to his performance over the last four years," head coach Dan Friend said. "Nicky has been a main component of what we are trying to do with the program."

Lewis dropped the opening set, but dominated the rest of the way.

"We started a little flat and had some unforced errors in the first which is uncommon for us," Friend said. "But we picked it up in the second and hit .400 the rest of the way."

The Flyers opened set two with a 5-1 advantage. The lead grew to 16-8 thanks to a 6-1 Flyers' run. Another 6-1 streak in the third set helped Lewis take an early lead. St. Francis rallied back to make it 26-24, but the Flyers finished the set with four straight points to take the game. Lewis took another quick lead in the fourth set, opening up a 5-1 advantage. Senior Billy Sahagian (Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett) finishing the match with a kill.

Sahagian hit .765 with 13 kills and no errors. Senior Drew Pickering (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa West) added 18 kills and seven digs. Junior Mike Iandolo (Orlando, Fla./Long Beach State) averaged 13+ assists per set for the second straight match, totaling 55 with six digs.

Lewis out-hit St. Francis .424 to .273.

The victory over St. Francis, who defeated IPFW on Saturday evening, moves the Flyers' road record to 6-5.

"Getting our away mark over .500 is nice," Friend said. "That is something the guys talked about aiming for."

St. Francis falls to 11-10. Lewis is now 16-5. The Flyers host George Mason on Thursday at 7 p.m.