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Romeoville, Ill. – Lewis University redshirt sophomore Alexis Davito (Crest Hill, Ill./Lockport) led the women's volleyball team with 14 kills and five aces in the Flyers' 3-0 (25-10, 28-26, 25-17) sweep of Illinois Springfield on Saturday (Oct. 5) at Neil Carey Arena.
 
The Flyers improve to 6-0 in Great Lakes Valley Conference play and 10-4 on the season. The Prairie Stars fall to 2-4 in league play and 4-9 for the year.
 
Flyers' redshirt junior outside hitter Kim Vertin (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Central) collected 10 kills while junior setter Leigh Barea (Battle Creek, Mich./Harper Creek) picked up 35 assists. Junior Katie Fuerst (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North) tallied four service aces as redshirt freshman middle hitter Alesia Kroeker (Elkhorn, Neb./Elkhorn) had two block assists.
 
"Today, we served and passed much better," Lewis head women's volleyball coach Lorelee Smith said. "That alone made everything else work."
 
"Leigh (Barea) did a great job mixing it up between Kim (Vertin) and Alexis (Davito)," Smith continued. "They hit heavy balls, which made it hard for UIS to dig them."
 
In the first set the Flyers hit a blistering .435 (13 K, 3 E, 23 TA) while holding the Prairie Stars to only a .143 hitting percentage (4 K, 2 E, 14 TA). Vertin picked up five kills while Fuerst notched all four of her aces in the 25-10 set win.
 
The Prairie Stars pushed the Flyers in the second set. UIS took an 8-3 lead, collecting points on three Lewis errors, a kill by Kellee Mahaffay and an ace by Taylor Jokisch. Lewis kept battling, knotting the set up at 23-all. Davito picked up an ace and the set-clinching kill for the Flyers, 28-26.
 
Lewis held an early lead in the third set but UIS was able to tie the match at three times, last at 9-all. The Flyers got kills from Davito, and freshmen Maddie Seliga (St. Louis, Mo./Nerinx Hall) and Bailey Sparkman (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell) as well as two UIS errors to take a 14-9 lead. After a UIS timeout, the Flyers cruised to a 25-17 set win to capture the sweep.
 
UIS' offense was led by Mahaffay's six kills while JoAnna Hoffmann picked up 14 assists and an ace. Kayla Katarzynski collected seven digs in the contest.
 
Lewis next heads on the road on Tuesday (Oct. 8) to take on UW-Parkside in Kenosha, Wis. First serve is set for 7 PM.