ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – First place in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) will be on the line when the Lewis Flyers travel up to Gentile Arena to take on the Loyola Ramblers in a 7 p.m. match on Wednesday evening. The Flyers will back at home this weekend taking on Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.) on Friday at 7 p.m. and then will host King (Tenn.) at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Neil Carey Arena.
Lewis (11-4, 5-1 MIVA) ran its home winning streak to 10 with a sweep over Ohio State last Thursday and a four-set win over McKendree on Saturday. The win over the Buckeyes halted Ohio State's 38-match MIVA win-streak.
Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) led the way with a season-high 21 kills in the contest and his 21 kills were the most by a MIVA player in a three-set match this season. For his efforts he was named the MIVA Offensive Player of the Week.
The Flyers moved up two spots to seven in this week's AVCA Top 15 Coaches Poll while Loyola (12-3, 5-1 MIVA) moved up from eighth to sixth in the rankings.
Wednesday night's winner will have a leg up on the field heading into the second half of conference play. The two teams will meet again on Saturday, March 17, at 7 p.m. at Neil Carey Arena.
ABOUT LOYOLA: The Ramblers enter Wednesday's match having won back-to-back contests and 10 of its last 11 overall. Against Ohio State last Saturday they rallied from a two games-to-none deficit to defeat the two-time defending national champion in five sets. Collin Mahan led Loyola with 13 kills as it won its ninth straight home match. The win was the Ramblers' seventh of the year over a nationally ranked opponent.
Mahan leads the team with 202 kills and is averaging 3.42 kills per set while Jeff Jendryk has recorded 120 kills and is averaging 2.14 per set. Garrett Zolg is the primary setter for Loyola averaging 10.05 assists per set. Paul Narup leads the way along the front line with 57 total blocks while Jendryk has 46 total blocks. Zolg also leads the way on the back line averaging 2.29 digs per set.
ABOUT LINCOLN MEMORIAL: The Railsplitters enter Friday's match with a record of 6-6 but have won three of their last four match. In their last match they picked up a sweep of Queens. Joshua Riblett led LMU with 10 kills in the match while Jordan Walley and Pedro Carvalho had six kills apiece. AJ Risavy had a match-high 34 assists while Carvalho had eight total blocks.
Evan Cory leads the Railsplitters with 3.15 kills per set while Riblett is averaging 2.03 kills per set and Carvalho is adding 1.82 kills per set. Risavy is the primary setter handing out nearly 8.5 assists per set. On the defensive side of the ball Logan Kerley and Evan Cory lead the way on the back line averaging 1.67 and 1.46 digs per set respectively.
ABOUT KING: The Tornado head into Wednesday's match against Lees-McRae with a record of 10-3 after having its nine-match winning streak snapped at Barton (N.C.) last Saturday. Jeff Sprayberry led King with nine kills in the match while Kiel Bell added seven and Jon Wheaton finished with five.
For the season Sprayberry and Bell lead the way averaging 3.42 and 3.14 kills per set respectively. Nick Drooker is the primary setter dishing out 9.51 assists per set while on the defensive side of the ball Bell heads the way with 2.16 digs per set.
