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ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The 2016 Lewis men's volleyball season opened in a big way on Saturday (Jan. 2) with a 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 23-25, 25-22) victory over No. 8 UC Santa Barbara. It was the first ever visit to Romeoville for the Gauchos of UCSB.

Lewis was led by redshirt freshman Julian Moses (Atlanta, Ga./Atlanta International School). He hit .471 with 21 kills, eight digs and six block assists in his first collegiate match.

Senior Patrick Lilly (East Northport, N.Y./Commack) had a career-high 11 kills with two aces.

The Flyers scored key points at key times in the first two sets. In the opening fame, it was 23-22 in favor of the Flyers when Lewis called a timeout. Out of the break, Moses had a kill for point 24. Junior Jacob Schmiegelt (Lombard, Ill./Willowbrook) followed two points later on a kill for point 25.

In the second, it looked like UCSB was going to knot the match at one when they led by three points at 16-13. A 5-1 run, featuring two Schmiegelt aces, followed to put the Flyers up 18-17. UCSB quickly tied the score, but never took the lead again. Lilly and redshirt freshman Michael Simmons (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley) had kills for points 24 and 25, respectively, to put the set away.

While the Gauchos took the third set, the fourth quickly went to Lewis thanks to a 4-0 run to grab an 8-4 lead. UCSB advanced within one at 11-10 and 18-17 but never knotted the score. Lewis won the match on a UCSB service error.
 
"Our first-ball contact broke down a bit in game three," Lewis head coach Dan Friend said. "But I thought in game four we refocused and got better from that point and put the match away."

Lewis out-blocked UCSB 13.5 to 7.0. Senior Bobby Walsh (Chicago, Ill./Mount Carmel), last season's national blocks leader, had a match-high eight block assists.
 
"I thought our net play was great," Friend said. "Our middles really anchored that."

The Flyers also recorded a 36-27 edge in digs, with redshirt freshman Jake Walenga (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) notching 10 digs.

Senior Scott Fifer (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) had 44 assists for Lewis as his offense out-hit UCSB .363 to .254.

Lewis is 1-0 on the young season. UCSB is 0-1. The Flyers travel to Hawaii next week for three matches. First up is a match with Harvard on Thursday (Dec. 7) at 9 p.m. CT.