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MALIBU, Calif. – A day after defeating Pepperdine, No. 13 Lewis men's volleyball and the No. 9 Waves did battle again on Sunday (Jan. 8) evening. However the second time around it was the Waves besting the Flyers 3-2 (22-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-21, 15-11). The five-set match featured only five lead changes.
 
The Flyers rallied for an opening set victory thanks to a 6-0 run which turned a 17-13 Pepperdine advantage into a 19-17 Lewis lead. Three different Flyers recorded kills in the stretch.
 
Lewis fell behind 5-0 in the second set and would never recover.
 
The story of the third set was redshirt freshman Geoff Powell (Claremont, Calif./Claremont) (Claremont, Calif./Claremont). He had five kills in the frame and his solo block gave Lewis a 15-13 lead; an advantage they would never relinquish.
 
Freshman Greg Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North), who was replaced in the lineup by Powell, had his chance in the fourth set to make a difference and took advantage. Friday night's serving star led a 4-0 charge which saw Lewis tie the score at 20. Petty had two aces in the run. The rally wouldn't be enough as the Waves scored the next three points and would win the frame 25-21.   
 
The Flyers led 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 in the fifth set, but wouldn't hold a lead again in the fifth once Pepperdine took a 4-3 lead.
 
Powell finished with a team-high 13 kills. Senior Aaron Flick (North Ridgeville, Ohio/St. Edward) (North Ridgeville, Ohio/St. Edward) finished with 10 kills and no errors while adding five block assists. Pepperdine was led by Josh Taylor's 26 kills. He helped the Waves out-hit the Flyers .339 to .278.

“Pepperdine played better tonight and Josh Taylor stepped up his game,” Lewis head coach Dan Friend said. “At the same time our outsides weren't as good as they were last night but Geoff did a nice job off the bench and our middles connected for the first time. Ultimately as a group we didn't bear down and fight as hard as we did last night. We let some points slip away and each of those points are big in top 10 games.”

Both clubs are now 1-1. Lewis is back in action on Thursday against No. 3 UCLA at Hawaii's Outrigger Invitational. First serve is set for 8 p.m. CT.