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University Park, Pa. – Despite double-doubles from senior Jay Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) and sophomore Eric Fitterer (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville), the No. 12 Lewis University men's volleyball team fell to No. 6 Penn State, 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 20-25, 25-18) on Friday (Jan. 18).
 
The Flyers fall to 1-5 on the season while the Nittany Lions improve to 3-1 on the year.
 
Fitterer had a career-high 12 kills and 11 block assists while Petty added 10 kills and 10 digs.
 
“We did some nice things on the block defense side tonight,” Lewis head men's volleyball coach Dan Friend said. “We struggled on the offensive side and made a few unforced errors.”
 
The first set was tough as neither team gave other a chance to build any momentum and exchanged 13 ties. The Flyers got a kill from freshman Bobby Walsh (Chicago, Ill./Mount Carmel) (Chicago, Ill/Mount Carmel) to tie the match at 22-all. Penn State was able to capitalize on an attack error, blocks from Nick Turko and Peter Russell and a kill from Russell to take the first set 25-22.
 
In the second set, the squads again were vying for a grip on the momentum of the game. Penn State capitalized on a Tom Comfort kill and three Lewis attack errors to take a 13-9 lead. The Flyers battled to tie the match at 20-all, getting blocks from Geoff Powell (Claremont, Calif./Claremont) (Claremont, Calif./Claremont), James Hofmann (Cincinnati, Ohio/Archbishop McNicholas) (Cincinnati, Ohio/Archbishop McNicholas) and Fitterer, and a Penn State attack error.
 
Fitterer and Hofmann teamed up again to get a block to tie the match at 21 and kills from Powell and Fitterer to get within one at 24-23. Penn State took the third set 25-23 on a Fitterer attack error.
 
The Flyers were able to open the third set on a 4-1 run on kills from Fitterer, Powell and Walsh and a block assist from Hofmann and Powell. Penn State was able to come back to take a 5-4 lead on an Aaron Russell kill and ace as well as two Lewis attack errors. The squads then exchanged 10 ties as the Flyers were able to move to a 16-15 lead on a Fitterer kill.
 
Lewis went on a 9-5 run to take the third set 25-20. The Flyers got kills from Petty, BJ Boldog (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) and Powell as well as blocks form Fitterer, Walsh and Powell during the run.
 
“We were just a few points off of taking the first two games,” Friend said. “In the third game we were able to capitalize on the opportunities we gave ourselves.”
 
Penn State used a six-point serve run to take a 14-6 lead in the fourth set on four Lewis attack errors, a kill from Russell and an ace from Nick Turko. The Flyers got kills from Petty, Powell and Yiwei Zhou (Nanjing, China/Nanjing No. 1) (Nanjing, China/Nanjing No. 1) in the set but the squad was unable to recover and fell, 25-18.
 
Powell led the Flyers with 13 kills and nine digs while Boldog added 38 assists. Redshirt sophomore Eric Butch (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) had a career-high 12 digs in the contest. 
 
Comfort led the Nittany Lions with 18 kills, 12 digs and two block assists.
 
Lewis stays on the road in Pennsylvania to take on Saint Francis on Saturday (Jan. 19) in Loretto, Pa. at 7 PM ET.