ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's men's volleyball picked up a straight win over the Fort Wayne Mastodons in Fort Wayne, Ind., on Saturday evening. The Flyers (9-4, 3-1 MIVA) hit .429 for the match while holding the Mastodons (9-4, 1-3 MIVA) to .165 attack percentage.
Lewis trailed 11-10 in the opening set but scored three straight points highlighted by back-to-back kills from
Kyle Bugee (Los Altos, CA/Homestead) to regain the lead. Fort Wayne cut the deficit to one a couple of times but the Flyers pulled away thanks to a 6-0 run behind kills from
Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook),
Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin),
Dalen Instenes (Racine, WI/William Horlick) and an ace from Bugee. The Mastodons tried to come back cutting the deficit to 21-15 but Lewis scored four of the final six points to take the opener 25-17.
The Flyers led for a majority of the second set except for an early tie as they hit .500 in the frame. Mitchem and
Mitch Perinar (Channahon, IL/Minooka) combined for eight of the team's 13 kills in the stanza. Fort Wayne closed the gap to a couple of points but Lewis pulled away at the end for the 25-19 victory and the commanding 2-0 lead.
The final set belonged to Lewis as it led wire-to-wire to complete the sweep. Leading 18-14 the Flyers put the match away with five straight points taking advantage of two attack errors and a service error from the Mastodons. Coenen accounted for seven of the team's 12 kills in the set.
Coenen led the team with 12 kills in the contest while Bugee added nine and Mitchem finished with eight.
Matt Yoshimoto (Ventura, CA/Adolfo Camarillo) handed out 33 assists while Bugee led the way with nine digs.
Pelegrin Vargas led Fort Wayne with 11 kills. Colton Stone added nine and Tony Price finished with five. Michael Keegan handed out 20 assists and Vargas had six digs.
Lewis is back at home on Thursday when it takes on the two-time defending national champion Ohio State Buckeyes at 7 p.m. at Neil Carey Arena. Thursday night's match will be the annual Black Out Match.
