ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The eighth ranked Lewis University men's volleyball team heads to Indiana this weekend for a pair of Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) matches. The Flyers (8-3, 2-0 MIVA) will take on Ball State at 6 p.m. (CST) on Friday evening and then conclude the trip with a match at Fort Wayne on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. (CST).
Lewis ran its winning streak to eight with a pair of sweeps over Lindenwood and Quincy last weekend to open up conference play. Against the Lions last Friday, the Flyers hit .371 for the match and were led offensively by
Mitch Perinar (Channahon, IL/Minooka) with 11 kills while
Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) and
Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) added six kills each.
In the victory over the Hawks, Lewis served a season-high 12 aces and hit .400 for the match. Perinar and
TJ Murray (Barrington, IL/Barrington) had five kills each to pace the attack while
Kyle Bugee (Los Altos, CA/Homestead) had five service aces and
Matt Yoshimoto (Ventura, CA/Adolfo Camarillo) had four aces.
Coenen continues to lead the Flyer attack with 3.38 kills per set and is hitting .330 for the season while Perinar is averaging 2.59 kills a set and has a .333 hitting percentage. Mitchem leads the squad with .495 hitting percentage and is averaging 1.94 kills per set. Yoshimoto has distributed 9.1 assists per set while on the defensive side of the ball Murray leads the way in blocking with 1.24 per set and
Michael Simmons (Aurora, IL/Waubonsie Valley) leads the way on the back line with 2.12 digs per set.
ABOUT BALL STATE: The Cardinals (5-7, 0-2 MIVA) opened conference play on the road last weekend dropping a five set match at two-time defending NCAA Champion Ohio State last Thursday and then fell in four sets at McKendree last Saturday.
Matt Szews and Matt Walsh lead the Cardinal attack averaging 2.78 and 2.40 kills per set respectively. Blake Reardon and Ben Chinnici are chipping in with 2.61 and 2.51 kills a set each. Courtland Scharenbor and Jake Romano are the primary setters for the ball club handing out 8.1 and 7.1 assists per set respectively. Walsh leads the team in blocking with 1.02 per set and on the back line Mitch Weiler and Nick Lavanchy have 1.95 digs per set each.
ABOUT FORT WAYNE: The Mastodons enter Friday's match against sixth ranked Loyola with a record of 9-2 and are 1-1 in MIVA action. They opened conference play with a five set win at McKendree last Wednesday and then were swept at fifth ranked Ohio State last Saturday.
The Mastodons are led offensively by Pelegrin Vargas and Colton Stone who are averaging 3.66 and 3.19 kills per set respectively. Tony Price is contributing 2.24 kills a set to the attack. Michael Keegan is the primary setter for the squad handing out 10.16 assists per set. Tomas Gago and Richie Diedrich lead the team with 43 blocks apiece and are averaging 1.34 and 1.13 blocks per set respectively while Keegan and Kolbie Knorr led the way on the back line with 73 digs each.
