March 26, 2009

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - Senior Nick Perakes (Orlando, Fla./Cypress Creek) had 13 digs to help No. 11 Lewis men's volleyball sweep George Mason 31-29, 30-22, 30-23 on Thursday night at Neil Carey Arena.

The Flyers led 14-10 in the opening set before George Mason rallied to knot it at 14. From there on it was a dog fight. George Mason took a 22-20 lead, only to see Lewis respond by knotting it up at 24 on an ace by sophomore Brian Muesenfechter (Florissant, Mo./Christian Brothers). It was tied at 28 when George Mason took earned set point following an attack error by senior Drew Pickering (Wauwatosa, Wis./Wauwatosa West). Following a long rally, Flyers' senior Alex Vigansky (Kenosha, Wis./Tremper) found a hole in the Patriots' defense to tie it at 29. Vigansky teamed with Pickering on a block to make it 30-29 in favor of the Flyers. Vigansky then teamed with Muesenfechter for another block on the Flyers' set point to win it 31-29.

The opening set featured 14 ties and four lead changes. Lewis never trailed during the final two. The late rally proved to be the turning point in the match.

Lewis scored the first four points of the second to force George Mason to call an early timeout. It was 25-21 in favor of Lewis when the Flyers scored five of the final six points of the set to win by eight.

The Flyers started the third set on a 6-1 run. George Mason made a run to get within two at 18-16, but Lewis scored 12 of the next 15 points to take control.

The Flyers recorded a side out percentage of 70 percent or better in all three sets. Lewis out-hit George Mason .248 to .162.

"I thought our out of system defense did a really nice job tonight," head coach Dan Friend said. "We made pushes when we needed to and did a good job of finishing it off."

Pickering recorded a match-high 16 kills with seven digs and four aces. Junior Nathan Klaas (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) added 12 kills. Muesenfechter totaled eight digs and six kills. Junior setter Mike Iandolo (Orlando, Fla./Long Beach State) added 40 assists and seven digs.

George Mason falls to 9-10. Lewis improves to 17-5. The Flyers host conference-foe Quincy on Friday at 7 p.m.