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LONG BEACH, Calif. – No. 13 Lewis men's volleyball fell 3-1 (23-25, 26-24, 25-16, 26-24) at No. 1 Long Beach state on Friday (March 11) evening. In the match, senior Bobby Walsh (Chicago, Ill./Mount Carmel) recorded his 500^th career block. He is only the second Flyer in program history to reach 500 blocks.

Walsh entered the night with 499. He finished with five blocks, to bring his career total to 504.

The opening set was tied at 20 when Lewis earned some breathing room at 22-20 on kills by freshmen Mitch Perinar (Channahon, Ill./Minooka) and Michael Simmons (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley). Long Beach State denied one set point, but on the second a LBSU attack error gave the opening frame to the Flyers.

LBSU rallied from an 8-4 Lewis lead in the second set to take the frame 26-24. The third was all LBSU, with the Flyers never threatening.

The fourth set had 16 ties and three lead changes as the teams traded points for the majority of the frame. The key point came when the 49ers' TJ DeFalco notched a kill to give the home squad a  24-23. His kill was the first non-side out since the score was tied at 15. The Flyers turned away one match point, but LBSU capitalized on the second to win 26-24.

Perinar finished with 14 kills. Junior Trevor Weiskircher (Loves Park, Ill./Boylan Catholic) hit .556 with 11 kills and one error. The Flyers earned a significant blocking advantage over the top-ranked 49ers, 11.5 to 3.0. However the Flyers didn't have an answer for DeFalco, who notched 25 kills.

The 49ers improve to 18-2. Lewis falls to 11-9. The Flyers return to action on Saturday in a 7 p.m. CT start vs. No. 14 UC Irvine. The match will be played at Long Beach State as part of the Asics Invitational.