SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The 25th ranked Lewis women's volleyball team defeated Michigan Tech in its first round NCAA Tournament match-up on Thursday evening at the O'Reilly Family Events Center in Springfield, Mo.

Elizabeth Hyland (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) led the Flyers (26-7) with 14 kills while Alexandra Preuss (Elmhurst, Ill./York) finished with 12 kills, nine digs and three aces and Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) had nine kills to go along with four total blocks.

Lewis used an 8-0 run to overcome an early deficit in the opening set to take a seven-point advantage. The Huskies (23-7) fought back to within 15-11 after a kill from Laura DeMarchi but the Flyers extended its lead back out scoring four straight points by taking advantage of three MTU errors and Preuss's first ace of the night.

The Huskies wouldn't get closer than six points the rest of the set as Lewis ended the set on a 5-2 run to win 25-16.

The Flyers hit .316 in the stanza recording 15 kills against only three errors in 38 chances and posted five blocks. The defense held Michigan Tech to .150 attack percentage and forced them into seven errors.

The Huskies scored the first three points of the middle set but Lewis responded with a 9-4 run to take the lead for good on a kill from Caroline Stefanon (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg). The Flyers held a 10-9 lead before pulling away by scoring five of the next six points to build a 15-10 lead after a block from Preuss.

MTU answered with back-to-back points after a timeout to cut the deficit to three but Lewis countered with a 6-2 run to build its largest lead of the set at 21-14 on a kill from Hyland.

The Huskies cut the lead to 22-17 on a kill from Emilia Widen before the Flyers closed it out scoring the final three points of the set. Venema had two of those kills to set up set point and then Colleen Wilhelm (Euclid, Ohio/Lake Catholic) finished it off.

Lewis trailed 11-8 in the final frame before going on a 12-3 run to take control of the set. Venema had three kills in the run while Preuss added two kills and a pair of aces. Hyland, Wilhelm and Stefanon had a kill each.

The Flyers didn't allow the Huskies to get closer than four points the rest of the stanza as they went onto win 25-20 on a kill from Hyland.

Lewis finished the match with an attack percentage of .304 (49 kills/11 errors/125 total attacks) and had 10 total blocks in the contest.

Michigan Tech was held to a hitting percentage of .163 (37 kills/17 errors/123 chances) and was led offensively by Mariah Sherman with 10 kills off the bench.

The Flyers advance to Friday's semifinals where they'll meet the top-seeded and host Drury Panthers. First serve is set for 7:30 p.m.