Box Score  / Box score (pdf)

Romeoville, Ill. – The No. 10 Lewis University men's volleyball team was unable to limit their serving and reception errors on Saturday (March 22), suffering a 3-1 (25-21, 19-25, 24-26, 20-25) to No. 14 Penn State at Neil Carey Arena.

The squads were well matched offensively as Penn State hit .402 (63 K, 18 E, 112 TA) while Lewis swung .398 (54 K, 11 E, 108 TA). Despite the Flyers out blocking the Nittany Lions 8.5 to 3.0, Lewis committed 15 service errors and seven reception errors in the match.
 
The Flyers fall to 15-6 on the year while the Nittany Lions move to 15-6 on the season.
 
Redshirt junior outside hitter Geoff Powell (Claremont, Calif./Claremont) led the Flyer offense with 17 kills without an error on 30 attempts to hit .567, while collecting six digs and four block assists. Junior outside hitter Greg Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) chipped in 14 putaways while junior opposite Eric Fitterer (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) picked up 11 kills. Junior libero Lucas Yanez (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs) had even digs while redshirt senior setter BJ Boldog (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) dished out 47 assists.
 
Lewis came out in the first set swinging .538 (16 K, 2 E, 26 TA) as Petty and Powell tallied six kills each in the set. The Flyers also collected 3.5 total blocks in the game.
 
Penn State was able to turn the Flyers momentum in the second set after breaking an 8-all tie with a 3-0 run to take a 11-8 lead. The Nittany Lions collected a 7-3 run to increase their lead to go up 16-11, which proved to be enough of an advantage to take the second set, 25-19.
 
In the third set, the squad exchanged 15 ties, the last as the Flyers collected two straight points with Penn State at match point. Petty and Boldog both collected kills to make the score 24-all. The Nittany Lions came back to take the set 26-24, as Peter Russell picked up a kill while the Flyers committed an attack error.
 
The Flyers managed to tie the fourth set five different times, but was unable to gain the upper hand as Penn State answered with runs to regain the lead. Petty tied the set at 16-all for the Flyers with a kill but the Nittany Lions was able to close out the set 9-4 run to take the match.
 
Aaron Russell's 22 kills and five digs led the Penn State offense, while Nick Goodell tallied 19 putaways and 11 digs. Peter Russell chipped in 11 kills as setter Taylor Hammond had a floor-high 50 assists.
 
"Penn State won the serve-pass battle tonight, as both teams were pretty close offensively," Lewis head men's volleyball coach Dan Friend said. "We need to manage our serves and passing better to be able to put ourselves in position to win."
 
The Flyers are back in action on Thursday (March 27) when the squad hosts IPFW in Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association action. First serve is set for 7 PM on Sign Night.