ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The ninth ranked Lewis University men's volleyball team ran its home match win streak to 10 straight with a hard fought 3-1 (25-16, 22-25, 25-19, 25-16) win over McKendree on Saturday night at Neil Carey Arena.
Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) led the Flyers (11-4, 5-1 MIVA) with 12 kills while
Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) and
Mitch Perinar (Channahon, IL/Minooka) added eight kills each.
Lewis fell behind 6-3 to begin the match but used a 9-1 run to grab a 12-7 lead after a kill from
Kyle Bugee (Los Altos, CA/Homestead). The Bearcats (6-8, 3-3 MIVA) cut the deficit to four points after a kill from Nolan Rueter but the Flyers responded by scoring three of the next four points to push the lead to 17-11. McKendree began to chip away at the lead getting to 18-14 but that would be the closest they got as Lewis ended the set on a 7-2 run to win 25-16.
The second set was tied early before the Bearcats went on a 5-1 run to grab an 11-7 lead after an ace from Patrick Ross. Lewis cut the lead to 13-10 on a kill by Coenen but McKendree responded scoring four of the next six points to push its lead to 17-12. The lead eventually grew to 24-17 after a kill from Rueter. The Flyers tried to mount a comeback scoring five straight points to cut the deficit to 24-22 after a kill from Perinar but it wouldn't be enough as the Bearcats held on for the 25-22 victory.
Lewis used a 6-1 run in set three to break a 6-6 tie and wouldn't look back on its way to a 25-19 win. The Flyers took advantage of 11 McKendree errors and held them to a .000 hitting percentage in the set. Mitchem and Perinar combined for five of Lewis's nine kills in the stanza.
The Flyers raced out to an early five point lead in set four and eventually led by as many as 10 in the set and would go onto win 25-16. Lewis hit only .286 in the frame but held the Bearcats to .042 hitting percentage in the stanza. Perinar and
TJ Murray (Barrington, IL/Barrington) had three kills each to lead the Flyers in the final set.
Lewis finished the match with a hitting percentage of .299 (41 kills/15 errors/87 total attacks).
Matt Yoshimoto (Ventura, CA/Adolfo Camarillo) handed out 33 assists while Murray and Mitchem had four blocks apiece and
Michael Simmons (Aurora, IL/Waubonsie Valley) finished with 16 digs.
McKendree ended the match hitting only .136 (42 kills/28 errors/103 total attacks). Rueter finished with a match-high 13 kills while Ethan Carroll added 10. Pasquale Fiduccia had 34 digs and Rueter and Zach Thompson added five digs apiece.
The Flyers return to action on Wednesday when they travel up the road to take on eighth ranked Loyola at 7 p.m. The Ramblers handed fourth ranked Ohio State its second straight loss on Saturday with a five set win.
