ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The seventh ranked Lewis men's volleyball team opened its 2019 season with a sweep of North Greenville on Friday night at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers (1-0) won by scores of 25-5, 25-13 and 39-37.

Lewis opened the match scoring the first 12 points, 11 of which were served by Matt Yoshimoto (Ventura, CA/Adolfo Camarillo). He had five service aces in the run while TJ Murray (Barrington, IL/Barrington), Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) and Julian Moses (Atlanta, GA/Atlanta International School) all had kills. Coenen and Murray also teamed up for a pair of assisted blocks in the run.

The Flyers led by as many as 19 points in the set and set a school record for fewest points allowed in a set in the rally scoring era with five.

Lewis hit .615 in the frame with nine kills against one error in 13 swings. Coenen and Murray led the way with three kills apiece.

The middle stanza featured five ties and two lead changes before the Flyers took control with a 7-0 run to build a 12-6 lead on a kill from Moses. The lead grew to 11 but North Greenville cut the deficit to 20-12 after a service error from Moses. That would be the closest it got as Lewis finished the set on a 5-1 run to take the commanding 2-0 lead.

The third set saw 21 ties and four lead changes. The Flyers led by as many as four points but the Crusaders came back to even things at 23 on a double block from Aaron Campbell and Carter Eby.

Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook) gave Lewis the first of what would be 12 match points at 24-23 but NGU extended the match on a kill from Campbell. The Flyers had to fight off three set points before finally closing the match out on a block from Mitchem and Kyle Bugee (Los Altos, CA/Homestead) to win 39-37.

Lewis finished the match hitting .441 with 41 kills against 11 errors in 68 chances, had 11 service aces and 19 total blocks. Mitchem had a match-high 10 kills and four total blocks. Coenen and Murray finished with seven kills each. Yoshimoto distributed 20 assists and had a team-high four digs.

North Greenville ended the contest with an attack percentage of .128 (29 kills/19 errors/78 total attacks). Jackson Gilbert led the Crusaders with nine kills while Ben Hamsho added six. Jake Boldog finished with 20 assists and four digs.

The Flyers return to the court on Saturday hosting fourth ranked UC Irvine at 7 p.m.