ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The 11^th ranked Lewis University Flyer men's volleyball team swept past George Mason (28-26, 25-18, 25-14) to pick up its first win of the 2018 season on Saturday evening at Neil Carey Arena. Julian Moses (Atlanta, GA/Atlanta International School) led the way for the Flyers (1-3) with 10 kills in the match while Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) added nine kills.

Lewis finished the match with a hitting percentage of .469 (36 kills, 6 errors, 64 attempts) and had 9.5 total blocks.

Christian Malias had a match-high 11 kills to lead the Patriots. GMU had an attack percentage of .188 (31 kills, 18 errors, 69 attempts).

"Mason came out hard that first game and we got knocked back a little bit then our guys settled in," men's volleyball head coach Dan Friend said. "We got some catalyst plays from Julian (Moses), Danny Maurer (Oviedo, FL/Hagerty) and TJ (Murray) which put us in a position to take the lead and eventually win 28-26 which was awesome.

"We went into games two and three and made a few small adjustments and I thought we served the ball better in those two games which really opened up those two games for us."

The Flyers trailed by five on two different occasions in the opening set but were able to climb back into it thanks to an 8-4 run to cut the lead 23-22 on a service ace from Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin). Sam Greenslade gave the Patriots a 24-22 lead with a kill and set point but Lewis scored three straight points to take a 25-24 lead.

George Mason extended the match on a service error but Moses gave the Flyers the lead right back with a kill. Malias answered Moses kill with one of his own to even the set at 26. Moses responded with a kill to give Lewis its third set point and then Coenen and Danny Maurer (Oviedo, FL/Hagerty) teamed up to stuff Hayden Wagner for the set winner.

The Flyers led by as many as eight points in the second set but the Patriots responded with a 6-2 run to cut the lead to 21-17 after a kill from Malias and forced a Lewis timeout. The Flyers responded out of the timeout scoring four of the last five points to win the set 25-18.

George Mason took the early lead in the third set but Lewis answered back with an 8-2 run to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish. The Flyers led by as many as 11 points in the final set. Coenen and Mitch Perinar (Channahon, IL/Minooka) had three kills each to lead Lewis in that final set.

The Flyers continue their nine match homestand next Friday hosting Saint Francis (Pa.) in a 7 p.m. match at Neil Carey Arena. Friday night's match will be autograph night.