Box Score / Box Score 

Romeoville, Ill. – Redshirt senior Jay Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) captured his 1,000^th career kill to open the fourth set in the No. 15 Lewis University men's volleyball team's 3-2 (25-18, 21-25, 27-29, 25-21, 15-9) victory over George Mason on Saturday (Jan. 26) at Neil Carey Arena. The outside hitter earned 19 kills and a match-high 21 digs for the Flyers.
 
The Flyers improve to 4-5 on the season while the Patriots move to 2-4.
 
“The guys were resilient against a good George Mason team,” Lewis head men's volleyball coach Dan Friend said. “Solid serving and some big blocks put us at an advantage to win in the end.”
 
In the first set, the Flyers broke a 5-all tie with a kill from James Hofmann (Cincinnati, Ohio/Archbishop McNicholas) (Cincinnati, Ohio/Archbishop McNicholas) which kick started the squad's momentum in the game. Geoff Powell (Claremont, Calif./Claremont) (Claremont, Calif./Claremont) earned six of Lewis' 15 kills in the set as the squad hit .583 in the 25-18 set win.
 
George Mason was able to break the 20-all tie in the offensive battle of the second set on a kill from Piotr Dabrowski. The Patriots were able to capitalize on three Lewis errors and a kill to take the set 25-21.
 
In the third game neither squad could string multiple points together until the Patriots closed out the set with two straight points on a kill and a triple block. George Mason took the set, 29-27.
 
Down two sets to one, the Flyers got back-to-back block assists from freshman Bobby Walsh (Chicago, Ill./Mount Carmel) (Chicago, Ill./Mount Carmel) and redshirt junior BJ Boldog (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) to tie the set at 16 and take a 17-16 lead. Lewis would get two kills apiece from Petty and Powell as well as a kill each from Hofmann and Eric Fitterer (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) to tie the match at 2 sets with a 25-21 set victory.
 
In the fifth set, Petty got back-to-back solo blocks to push the Flyers' lead to 6-3. Lewis earned seven kills in 16 attempts and tallied five blocks to win the set 15-9 and the match.
 
Powell paced all players with 20 kills while Boldog had 63 assists and four block assists. Lewis libero Eric Butch (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) totaled a career-high 16 digs in the five set contest.
 
Lewis opens Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association play next weekend when the team travels to Phoenix, Ariz., to take on Grand Canyon on Friday (Feb. 1) at 6 PM MT and Sunday (Feb. 3) at 2 PM MT.