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Romeoville, Ill. – With clutch serving by redshirt sophomore Patrick Lilly (East Northport, N.Y./Commack) in the fifth set, the No. 11 Lewis University men's volleyball team dug deep to capture the 3-2 (25-18, 23-25, 23-25, 25-19, 16-18) victory over IPFW in Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association action on Thursday (March 27) at Neil Carey Arena.  
 
The Flyers improve to 16-6 on the year and 6-3 in MIVA play while the Mastodons fall 17-5 on the season and 6-4 in league action.
 
IPFW jumped out on the Flyers in the fifth set, taking a 13-7 lead on a kill by Ramon Burgos. With Lilly at the service line, Lewis then rattled off six straight points to tie the match at 13-all. The Flyers got two kills by redshirt junior Geoff Powell (Claremont, Calif./Claremont), a putaway by sophomore Bobby Walsh (Chicago, Ill./Mount Carmel) and block assists from junior Eric Fitterer (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) and Walsh as well as two IPFW errors in the run. The squads were knotted up three more times before the Flyers were able to break the 16-all tie and collect the victory on back-to-back kills by junior Greg Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North).
 
"The guys fought hard all night," Lewis head men's volleyball coach Dan Friend said. "It was a pretty amazing comeback by our guys in the fifth set."
 
"They had a lot of heart and determination out there," Friend continued. "To see our guys rise to the occasion and get an important five-set win over a good IPFW team gives us some great momentum heading into our next match."
 
Winning the first and fourth sets decisively, the Flyers swung .357 (66 K, 21 E, 126 TA) on the night while holding the Mastodons to a .270 (67 K, 26 E, 152 TA) clip. The Flyers also out-blocked the visitors 16.5 to 10.5.
 
The Lewis offense was led by Petty, who hit .452 with a career-high 27 kills with eight errors on 42 attacks, two aces and three total blocks while Powell tallied 24 putaways and three total blocks.
 
Redshirt senior setter BJ Boldog (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) dished out a season-high 56 assists while Walsh had seven kills and eight total blocks for the Flyers. Junior libero Lucas Yanez (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs) matched a season-high 12 digs while Fitterer collected a career-high 12 digs as well as five kills and three block assists.
 
IPFW had three players tally double-figure kills on the night, led by Andrew Sellan with 18 putaways. Eddie Rivera collected 17 kills while Burgos chipped in 16. IPFW's setter Omar Rivera dished out 57 assists.
 
The Flyers are back in action on Saturday (March 29) when they travel to Muncie, Ind., to take on Ball State. First serve is set for 7:30 PM ET