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MUNCIE, Ind. – No. 6 Lewis men's volleyball and Ball State played a super-sized first set on Super Sunday as the Flyers swept the Cardinals 44-42, 25-19 and 25-15.
 
Lewis' 44 points matches the program record for most points in a single game. Lewis won by the same 44-42 score over Juniata in the first set on March 19, 2010. However in 2010 teams were playing up to 30 points. Last season Lewis won a 39-37 third set at St. Francis (Pa.) on Jan. 28. Both sets at Juniata and St. Francis (Pa.) required Lewis to score 14 extra points as men's volleyball switched to 25-point sets in 2011. On Sunday at Ball State the Flyers scored 19 extra points over the normal 25 to earn the win.
 
Lewis seemed to be in a good position in the first set, leading 24-21. Four Ball State points later and the Cardinals had the first of what would be 22 total set points. The Flyers turned away 14 Ball State set points. Ball State denied seven Lewis set points until the Flyers finally took advantage of their eighth.
 
After Ball State grabbed a 25-24 advantage, Lewis survived six consecutive Ball State set points. A kill by junior Ian Karbiener (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) and a Ball State attack error put Lewis up 31-30. Lewis fell behind 35-34 when Karbiener was blocked. The teams would trade the next 13 points, a stretch which saw Lewis endure seven Ball State set points. Lewis finally scored back-to-back points on a Ball State attack error for point 41 and a kill from junior Jay Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) for point 42. A Lewis serving error tied it up at 42 before a kill from freshman Greg Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) and a block by senior Aaron Flick (North Ridgeville, Ohio/St. Edward) (North Ridgeville, Ohio/St. Edward) and sophomore #BJ  Boldog (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) finally gave Lewis the opening set win.
 
The set lasted 46 minutes and featured 86 total points, 25 ties and eight lead changes.
 
“The guys stayed in control and were resilient,” Lewis head coach Dan Friend said when asked about what allowed Lewis to win the marathon set. “We kept going after it and made smart plays. We had a couple errors but untimely we kept our composure.”
 
The final two sets featured just three ties each. Lewis out-hit Ball State .308 to -.080 in the second and .355 to .000 in the third to coast to the three-set victory.
 
Jay Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) hit .467 with 17 kills and eight digs. Karbiener added 13 kills. Boldog finished with 43 assists, nine digs and five blocks (one solo). He ran an offense which out-hit the Cardinals .303 to .057.
 
“BJ had another match where he had over 13 assists per set,” Friend said. “You are seeing BJ run a pretty efficient and effective offense.”
 
Lewis improves to 7-3 and 1-1 in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. Ball State falls to 5-4 and 0-2 in the MIVA.
 
“The biggest thing today was our reaction after a tough five game loss on Friday,” Friend said. “The guys talked about making a statement today and they responded pretty well.”
 
The Flyers are off until Saturday when they welcome Loyola-Chicago to Romeoville for a 7 p.m. start.