MUNCIE, Ind. – The No. 7 Lewis men's volleyball team had its 11-match winning streak snapped in a five set loss at No. 15 Ball State on Saturday afternoon in Muncie, Ind. The Flyers fall to 18-5 overall and 9-1 in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association while the Cardinals improve to 13-11 and 4-5 in MIVA play.
Lewis was outhit in the match .272-to-.226 and had 53 kills compared to 66 for Ball State.
Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) led three Flyers in double figures with 23 kills while
Julian Moses (Atlanta, GA/Atlanta International School) and
Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS) added 11 and 10 kills respectively.
Matt Yoshimoto (Ventura, CA/Adolfo Camarillo) recorded another double-double with 43 assists and 15 digs and
Michael Simmons (Aurora, IL/Waubonsie Valley) had a match-high 17 digs.
Lewis trailed by as many as five on multiple occasions in the opening set but were never able to get closer than two points in the frame as the Cardinals would go onto win 25-21 in the frame. Matt Szews had six of the team's 12 kills in the stanza.
The Flyers led by as many as three in the second set but Ball State came back to take a 23-21 lead in the frame after a service ace from David Siebum. Coenen recorded back-to-back kills to tie the stanza at 23. The Cardinals had three chances to close out the set but each time Lewis scored to extend the match. Mitchem gave the Flyers their first set point at 27-26 but Ball State extended the match with a kill from Szews. Lewis would go onto win the set 29-27 on a kill from Moses and an error from Siebum.
The Flyers hit .381 in the middle set and led by as many as eight points at 10-2 after an error from Siebum. The Cardinals cut the Lewis lead to four thanks to a 10-6 run but the Flyers countered scoring nine of the final 13 points to win the set 25-16.
Ball State dominated the fourth set hitting .361 in the frame and never let Lewis get closer than three at any point in the set on its way to the 25-12 victory.
The Flyers held an early lead in the fifth set but were unable to maintain it. The Cardinals led by four at 9-5 but Lewis was able to close to within 10-8 on a kill from Coenen. That would be the closest the Flyers got as Ball State scored five of the final seven points of the match to win 15-10.
Lewis opens its final homestand of the season on Friday hosting McKendree at 7 p.m.
