HONOLULU – The eighth ranked Lewis University men's volleyball team dropped its opener in the Outrigger Invitational to second ranked Hawaii 3-0 (12-25, 22-25, 19-25) on Thursday evening in Honolulu, Hawaii. Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) led the Flyers (13-6) with 11 kills and seven digs in the contest.

Hawaii's (12-2) defense held the Lewis offense to just 30 kills in the match and held them to a .194 hitting percentage in the match.

The Flyers opened the match with a pair of blocks from Mitch Perinar (Channahon, IL/Minooka) and TJ Murray (Barrington, IL/Barrington) to take a 2-1 lead but the Rainbow Warriors took control with a 9-2 run highlighted by four service aces from Austin Matautia and Dalton Solbrig. Lewis cut the deficit to six points on a couple of occasions but was unable to get any closer than that the rest of the frame as Hawaii ended the set on a 13-6 run.

The Flyers led 3-0 to begin the second set but the Rainbow Warriors came back and eventually grabbed a 12-10 lead on a kill from Stijn van Tilburg. The two teams went back and forth before Hawaii took an 18-16 lead on a kill from Solbrig and a block from van Tilburg and Solbrig. Lewis responded with five straight points to regain its three-point advantage highlighted by a pair of aces from Coenen. After a timeout, the Rainbow Warriors closed the set scoring seven of the last eight points to rally for the 25-22 win.

The Flyers led late in set three after a block from Murray and Matt Yoshimoto (Ventura, CA/Adolfo Camarillo) but was unable to close it out as Hawaii ended the match on a 9-2 run to win 25-19. Coenen had six kills in the frame while Dalen Instenes (Racine, WI/William Horlick) and Julian Moses (Atlanta, GA/Atlanta International School) had three and two kills respectively.

The Rainbow Warriors recorded 42 kills in the match and hit .387 for the contest. van Tilburg led the way with 13 kills and Matautia added 10 kills. Joe Worsley distributed 35 assists and had five digs along with Larry Tuileta.   

Lewis continues play in the Outrigger Invitational on Friday when it takes on fourth ranked BYU at 8 p.m. (CST). The Cougars defeated the 11^th ranked Penn State Nittany Lions in five sets on Thursday.