SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The sixth ranked Lewis women's volleyball team opened its 2018 season with a sweep of Point Loma on Thursday evening at the Cal State San Marcos Cougar Classic in San Marcos, Calif.

Point Loma (0-2) ran off seven straight points to build its largest lead of the set at 15-7 after an error by Caroline Stefanon (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg). The Flyers (1-0) responded scoring eight of the next 10 points to trim the deficit to 17-15 after an ace from Alexandra Preuss (Elmhurst, Ill./York) and forced the Sea Lions to take a timeout. Out of the timeout, Lewis kept the pressure on scoring six of the next eight points to take a 21-19 lead.

Point Loma tied it with back-to-back points but the Flyers took advantage of a pair of errors and a kill from Stefanon to get to set point. The Sea Lions wouldn't go quietly scoring back-to-back points to cut it to one but Preuss ended the set with her third kill of the stanza.

Lewis dominated the second set recording 17 kills against only two errors to hit .349 in cruising to a 25-13 win. Colleen Wilhelm (Euclid, Ohio/Lake Catholic) led the way with five kills in the frame while Preuss, Elizabeth Hyland (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) and Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) had three kills each. The Flyers used an 8-0 run to break a 6-6 tie and never looked back. They led by as many as 12 points in the frame.

Lewis fell behind by three early in the third set but responded with a 6-1 run to take a 7-5 lead on a kill from Hyland. Point Loma wouldn't go away though battling back to take a 15-13 lead on a kill from Ashlynn Fresques. The Flyers answered right back with an 8-1 run to take a 21-15 lead after an error by Fresques. The Sea Lions cut the Lewis lead to 21-18 but the Flyers closed out the match scoring four of the final five points.

Lewis finished the match recording 44 kills against 18 errors in 131 chances to hit .198 for the match. Preuss finished with a match-high 11 kills, 10 digs, four aces and two solo blocks. Hyland added nine kills and 13 digs.

Point Loma ended the match with .037 hitting percentage but the Flyer defense held them to a negative .001 attack percentage in the final two sets. Jaime Cymbaluk led the Sea Lions with eight kills.

Lewis plays two matches on Friday taking on Cal State Dominguez Hills at 3 p.m. (CDT) and then will take on the host San Marcos Cougars at 8 p.m. (CDT).