ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The third ranked Lewis women's volleyball team rallied from a pair of deficits to defeat 13th ranked West Florida 3-2 (15-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-22, 15-11) on Friday afternoon at the Premiere Challenge in Denver, Colo.
The Flyers (5-0) led 9-6 in the opening set but the Argonauts (2-3) used a 9-1 run to take the lead and went on to win the set 25-15. Lewis struggled to get its offense going hitting just .083 in the frame while allowing UWF to hit .406.
The Flyers led 15-12 midway through the second set but the Argos ran off six straight points to take an 18-15 lead after a kill from JoeDee Kovanda. Lewis answered right back with a 9-3 run of its own to take a 24-21 advantage after a service error from UWF. The Argos fought back to tie the match at 24 on a kill by Makenzie Chrisman but the Flyers were able win the set 26-24 after a kill and an ace from
Alexandra Preuss (Elmhurst, Ill./York) to even the match at a set apiece.
The third set was tied at nine when West Florida went on a 4-1 run to take a 13-10 lead. Lewis closed the deficit to two four different times but were unable to get any closer than that. The Argos led by as many as five points late in the set before winning 25-22.
The fourth set was nearly identical to the third one as the teams were tied at nine but this time it was the Flyers turn to take control thanks to a 7-3 run highlighted by a pair of kills and a block from
Tori Foster (Munster, Ind./Munster). Lewis pushed its lead to five late in the set but West Florida refused to quit clawing back to within 24-22. After a timeout,
Colleen Wilhelm (Euclid, Ohio/Lake Catholic) knocked down a kill for a 25-22 set win and even the match at two sets apiece.
The Flyers stormed out of the gates in the finale scoring five of the first seven points only to see the Argos come back and tie it at five. Lewis responded with six straight points highlighted by a pair of kills from
Elizabeth Hyland (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) to regain the lead and wouldn't look back on its way to a 15-11 win. Lewis hit a blistering .438 in the final set while holding the Argos to .190 hitting percentage.
Preuss and
Caroline Stefanon (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) led Lewis with 13 and 10 kills respectively while Hyland and Foster contributed nine kills each.
Abby Becker (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls) handed out 42 assists and
Ronni Katarzynski (Winfield, Ill./West Chicago) had a match-high 23 digs. As a team, the Flyers hit .144 (55 kills/30 errors/174 total attacks) for the match.
West Florida finished the match with an attack percentage of .209 (64 kills/26 errors/182 total attacks). York finished with a match-high 19 kills while Williams and Jordyn Poppen added 14 kills each. Brogan Wallin had 27 assists while Logan Kael finished with 21 digs.
Lewis is back in action later this evening taking on 14th ranked Central Missouri at 7 p.m. (CDT) at the Premiere Challenge in Denver, Colo.
