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LORETTO, Pa. – In their first match as the No. 2 team in the nation, Lewis men's volleyball swept the Saint Francis (PA) Red Flash on Friday (Jan. 23) evening 25-14, 25-19, 25-10 in a road non-conference contest for the Flyers.

The Flyers left little doubt by out-hitting the Red Flash .414 to -.029. Saint Francis had 22 attack errors thanks partly to Lewis' 8.0 blocks. Junior Bobby Walsh (Chicago, Ill./Mount Carmel) led Lewis with six total blocks.
 
It's the first time Lewis has held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage since doing so against King on March 13, 2012. King hit -.030 that day.    

Senior Geoff Powell (Claremont, Calif./Claremont) hit .733 with 12 kills and just one error. Senior Eric Fitterer (Edwardsville, Ill./Edwardsville) added 13 kills on only one hitting error.
 
Of the three sets, the second was the closest. Lewis jumped out to an 8-3 lead but saw Saint Francis push back and tie the score at 11. It was tied at 13 when Lewis went ahead for good with four straight points. Walsh had two blocks in the push.

"I thought we did some nice things early, hit a bit of a rut in the second game by missing too many serves, but came back strong," Lewis head coach Dan Friend said. "Eric was good the whole match and Geoff turned it on late."

Lewis improves to 5-1 with the win. Saint Francis is now 0-7.

Lewis turns their attention to the 15^th ranked Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday in a 7 p.m. ET match.

"Going three tonight hopefully gives us a little better legs tomorrow for Penn State," Friend said. "It's a big game. It is the team that ended our season last year and it's an opportunity to win at their house."

Penn State defeated Lewis in the NCAA Tournament last season 3-1.