Nov. 5, 2010

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Thanks to a 3-2 (26-28, 25-20, 21-25, 25-21, 15-6) victory at Rockhurst on Friday evening, Lewis women's volleyball is the Great Lakes Valley Conference regular season champion for a third consecutive season. The win also means the 11th ranked Flyers will host the GLVC Tournament for a third straight season. The tournament will be held next Friday through Sunday at Neil Carey Arena.

"The team is very proud," head coach Lorelee Smith said. "They know how much tougher the conference is top to bottom this year."

Senior Lauren Seliga (St. Louis, Mo./Nerinx) added 16 kills and 18 digs. Her 16th kill of the match, good for the 10th point in set five, also gave her 1,000 for her career.

Lewis recorded a season-high 14 blocks with junior Hannah Koeneman (New Haven, Ind./Woodlan) recording eight (one solo). Koeneman also added nine digs and seven kills. Senior Rachel Ruedi (Mahomet, Ill./Mahomet Seymour) was one assist short of matching her career high by totaling 55 assists. She also totaled 10 digs, six kills and three blocks.

"We learned from some early mistakes and our blocking numbers went up as the match went on," Smith said.

Freshman Amy Choi (Vernon Hills, Ill./Vernon Hills) contributed 20 digs. Sophomore Carly Perschnick (Dwight, Ill./Dwight Township/Nova Southeastern) led Lewis with 18 kills while adding four blocks.

"Carly was going against their biggest blocker and she produced offensively and defensively," Smith said.

It's the fourth time in the last six meetings between Rockhurst and Lewis that the match has gone five sets. Lewis has won each of those six contests.

Rockhurst jumped out to an 8-1 advantage in the opening set only to see Lewis rally to tie it at 18 and earn set point at 24-23. However Rockhurst scored back-to-back points to earn a set-point of their own. Lewis turned away the set point, and another, before Rockhurst won the set on their third set point.

Lewis tied the match at one by winning the second set. Lewis took control of the frame by scoring three consecutive points on four occasions.

Similar to the opening set, Rockhurst took a 7-1 lead in the third set. Again Lewis came all the way back, knotting the score at 20. The Hawks however finished the set on a 5-1 run to take the frame.

The Flyers used a quick 10-4 lead to take the fourth set and force a fifth set. The final frame was all Flyers. With the score tied at two, Lewis took the next five points. Four of those points came off Rockhurst hitting errors. Lewis went on another 5-0 run to take a 13-4 lead in the set. That run was boosted by three more Rockhurst hitting errors. The Flyers sided out on a six of seven chances in the fifth set.

Despite Lewis' rallies in the first and third set, the first set was the only in the match to feature a lead change.

Rockhurst falls to 21-9 (8-5 GLVC). Lewis improves to 22-4 (12-1 GLVC). The Flyers close the regular season on Saturday with a contest at Drury. First serve is slated for 3 p.m.