PITTSBURGH – The 25th ranked Lewis women's volleyball team advanced to the Division II Volleyball Final Four with a 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-19) win over 12th ranked Wheeling Jesuit on Thursday afternoon at the A.J. Palumbo Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.
 
The Flyers (29-7) hit .204 in the contest while holding the Cardinals (37-4) to a .135 hitting percentage.
 
Elizabeth Hyland (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) led the Flyers with 14 kills and became the program's all-time leader in career kills with her 1,677th kill which setup match point for Lewis. Colleen Wilhelm (Euclid, Ohio/Lake Catholic) added 13 kills while Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) and Caroline Stefanon (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) added nine kills each.
 
Lewis trailed 18-14 in the opening set but came back to tie the frame at 20-all thanks to a 6-2 run. Wilhelm had a couple of kills in the run while Hyland and Venema added one each.
 
The Cardinals countered with back-to-back points to grab a 22-20 advantage but the Flyers closed out the set by scoring five of the last six points to win 25-23. Hyland had three kills in the set deciding run.
 
The middle stanza was even at 15 when Lewis used a 6-2 run to take a 21-17 lead. Wheeling Jesuit countered with a 5-0 run of its own to regain the lead at 22-21 after back-to-back attack errors from Stefanon. After a Flyer timeout, Wilhelm recorded a kill and then Hyland followed with another kill to give Lewis a 23-22 advantage.
 
The Cardinals evened things back up at 23 on an attack error but the Flyers scored the last two points to win 25-23. Alexandra Preuss (Elmhurst, Ill./York) had a kill and then served the set out with an ace.
 
Lewis used an 8-2 run early in the final set to turn an early deficit into a 9-4 lead. Wheeling Jesuit cut the Flyer lead to 12-7 after an attack error from Hyland but the Flyers responded by scoring five of the next eight points to extend its lead to 17-10.
 
The Cardinals got as close as five but Lewis wouldn't allow them to get any closer as it reached set point at 24-17 on Hyland's kill. WJU fought off two match points but couldn't fight off a third as Wilhelm ended the match with a kill.
 
The Flyers finished the contest with 53 kills against 22 errors in 152 chances. Abby Becker (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls) had a double-double with 42 assists and 18 digs. Becker and Preuss led Lewis with 18 digs apiece.
 
Cassie Meyer led the Cardinals with 10 kills and Breanna Kramer added nine while Allonda Watkins finished with seven kills. Stephanie Sylvester distributed 29 assists and Audrey Francis had a match-high 25 digs.
 
The Flyers will face Western Washington, seeded third, in the semifinals on Friday at 3 p.m. (CST) at the A.J. Palumbo Center.