HONOLULU – The eighth ranked Lewis men's volleyball team took third place at the 24^th annual Outrigger Invitational with a 3-1 win over 11^th ranked Penn State on Saturday night in Honolulu.

The Flyers (14-7) led from start to finish in the frame winning 25-17. The offense hit .571 in the opening set recording nine kills against one error in 14 chances. Julian Moses (Atlanta, GA/Atlanta International School) had five kills in the set to lead the way. Lewis's defense held the Nittany Lions (10-7) to an attack percentage of .214 (12 kills/6 errors/28 attacks) and 3.5 total blocks in the frame.

The second set featured 11 ties and two lead changes. The Flyers led 6-4 after a kill from Jake Walenga (Frankfort, IL/Lincoln Way North) but Penn State scored five straight to regain the lead. Lewis countered scoring three of the next four points to even things up at 10. The two sides went back and forth and were still tied at 20 when the Nittany Lions rattled off three straight points to take a 23-20 advantage. The Flyers scored two of the next three points to cut the lead to 24-22 after a service error. That would be the closest they got as Penn State won the set 25-22 after a kill from Kyle Mackiewicz to even the match at a set each.

The third stanza was tied at 11 when Lewis used a 4-1 run to take a lead it wouldn't relinquish the rest of the set. The Nittany Lions cut the deficit to one four different times but the Flyers were able to hold them off and win 25-22 on a block by Moses.

The fourth set was similar to the second one with 12 ties and six lead changes in the stanza. With the set tied at 19, Lewis broke the tie on a kill from Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin). Penn State responded by scoring three of the next four points to regain the lead at 22-21 after a kill from Matthew McLaren. The Flyers bounced back scoring the final four points of the match to win 25-22.

Lewis finished the match with .351 hitting percentage (39 kills/12 errors/77 attacks) and made things tough for the Nittany Lion offense recording 11 total blocks. Coenen led the team with 13 kills while Moses added 12 kills and TJ Murray (Barrington, IL/Barrington) finished with six kills. Matt Yoshimoto (Ventura, CA/Adolfo Camarillo) dished out 34 assists and Michael Simmons (Aurora, IL/Waubonsie Valley) had six digs. Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) finished with six assisted blocks.

Penn State had an attack percentage of .282 (56 kills/25 errors/110 attacks) and had four players reach double figures led by Aidan Albrecht with 19 kills. Mackiewics and McLaren had 15 and 12 kills respectively. Nathan Smith had 42 assists while Royce Clemens finished with eight digs.

The Flyers return home next Saturday to take on Loyola at 7 p.m. at Neil Carey Arena. Saturday's match will be the Green Out Night with everyone encouraged to wear GREEN to the match.