EVANSVILLE, Ind. – The eighth ranked Lewis women's volleyball team suffered a 3-1 defeat at Southern Indiana on Friday evening. The Flyers fall to 21-4, 7-3 GLVC while the Screaming Eagles are now 12-13, 4-6 GLVC.

Lewis dropped a marathon opening set 33-31 despite having multiple opportunities to win the stanza. The Flyers trailed by as many as four in the frame but came back to take a 24-22 lead on a kill by Colleen Wilhelm (Euclid, Ohio/Lake Catholic). After giving up back-to-back points to tie the set, Lewis regained the lead at 25-24 on a kill by Farah Taki (North Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) but was unable to close it out.  The Flyers had three other chances including at 31-30 but USI scored the final three points to win the opener 33-31.

Lewis jumped out to an early six-point lead but the Screaming Eagles fought back to win 15-14. However, the Flyers pulled away closing the set on a 10-2 run.

Lewis got out to an early lead in set three but USI responded with a 9-2 run to take a 13-9 lead. The Flyers cut the lead to 15-14 on a double block from Tori Foster (Munster, Ind./Munster) and Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg). The Eagles countered with a 5-1 run to extend the lead to five and Lewis wouldn't get closer than four points the rest of the set.

The Flyers fell behind by five points in the fourth set before going on a 10-5 run to even things at 16. USI countered with three straight points to build a 19-16 lead but Lewis fought back to even things at 22 on a service ace from Jamie Poppen (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West). The Eagles scored back-to-back points to get to match point at 24-22. Wilhelm recorded a kill to get one of those points back but a kill by Sidney Hegg on the next play ended the match.

Lewis outhit USI .204-to-.156 in the match. Wilhelm finished with a match-high 19 kills to lead four Flyers in double figures. Alexandra Preuss (Elmhurst, Ill./York), Schlechte and Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) had 10 kills each. Mikah Freppon (Cold Spring, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) finished with 26 assists and Poppen had a match-high 27 digs.

Lewis is back in action on Saturday traveling to Lebanon, Ill., to take on McKendree at 3 p.m.