Feb. 11, 2011

Box Score

Box Score in PDF Format

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - Sophomores Jay Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) and Ian Karbiener (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) combined for 41 kills in No. 14 Lewis men's volleyball's 3-2 (25-22, 25-15, 23-25, 22-25, 15-10) victory over No. 13 Ball State at Neil Carey Arena on Friday evening. The match was the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association opener for both schools.

Lewis led the opening set 18-15 when three consecutive Ball State points knotted the frame at 18. Karbiener stopped the run with a kill, one of his six in the set. It was another Karbiener kill to make it 23-21 after Ball State advanced within a point.

A 9-1 run in the second set gave Lewis a 13-5 lead they would never relinquish.

The third featured several momentum swings. Ball State led 10-6 before four straight Lewis points tied it up. The Flyers then scored seven of the next nine points to lead 17-12 and force Ball State to ask for time. The Flyers advanced the lead to 21-17 and seemed to be cruising when the Cardinals came alive with a five straight points to lead 22-21. Karbiener finally stopped the run to tie it at 22 with a kill. The score was tied at 23 when Ball State forced a fourth set by scoring the set's final two points.

Ball State led fourth set 3-0, only to see Lewis take a 14-11 lead. The Cardinals then scored six straight points and led for the rest of the set.

The fifth set would feature no momentum swings as Ball State would never hold a lead. Lewis took control with a 6-1 push to take a 9-4 lead. Lewis limited Ball State to -.056 hitting in the fifth set. The Flyers sided out 9-of-10 opportunities.

"The guys came out ready to go from the beginning and took advantage of some things that were given," head coach Dan Friend said. "We knew they'd come back and adapt but they gave us an opportunity to put it away and we didn't take advantage. I think that's a sign we need to mature a bit. However the guys responded in the fifth by jumping on them early."

Karbiener finished with 21 kills and a .357 attack percentage. He also added a career-high 14 digs along with two aces. Petty hit .444 with 20 kills and only four errors. Freshman setter BJ Boldog (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) totaled 53 assists and seven digs.

"We had two guys with 20 kills so that means the setter is doing something right," Friend said. "BJ ran a nice offense and defensively we got stops when we needed."

Lewis had six aces to 11 service errors.

"After the Stanford match we wanted to work on two things: our aces to errors ratio and getting solid attempts out of system," Friend said. "I thought we improved on both things tonight."

Lewis out-hit Ball state .310 to .231.

Ball State falls to 5-4 (0-1 MIVA). Lewis is now 8-2 (1-0 MIVA). The Flyers host No. 2 BYU on Saturday at 7 p.m.