ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The No. 7 Lewis men's volleyball team swept No. 10 Loyola to win the 2019 Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Championship on Saturday night at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers earn the MIVA automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and improve to 25-5 on the season while the Ramblers fall to 21-8.

"It was so fun to watch," Lewis head men's volleyball coach Dan Friend said. "The guys were incredible tonight and I was there biggest fan. We were great in all facets of the game whether it was offense, defense or serving and they really embodied what we've been working on all year. I'm elated for them, for our program, for all of our alumni and excited to get to that next step."

Lewis hit .459 in the match recording 40 kills against six errors in 74 attempts and was led by Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) and Julian Moses (Atlanta, GA/Atlanta International School) with 10 each. Matt Yoshimoto (Ventura, CA/Adolfo Camarillo) had 35 assists while Michael Simmons (Aurora, IL/Waubonsie Valley) finished with eight digs.
Moses was named the MIVA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the All-Tournament team by Coenen and Yoshimoto. Also making the All-Tournament team was Loyola's Paul Narup and Collin Mahan, Purdue Fort Wayne's Colton Stone and McKendree's Zach Schnittker.

The Flyer defense held Loyola to a .118 hitting percentage and registered 14 blocks and forced the Ramblers into 21 hitting errors. Mahan led Loyola with nine kills while Will Tischler added eight and Kyle Piekarski finished with seven. Garrett Zolg had 23 assists and Avery Aylsworth had a match-high 10 digs.

The opening set went back-and-forth and was tied at six when Lewis went on a 10-3 run to grab a 16-9 lead. Moses had a pair of kills in the run while Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS), TJ Murray (Barrington, IL/Barrington HS) and Mitch Perinar (Channahon, IL/Minooka) had one apiece. The lead eventually grew to eight and the Ramblers wouldn't get closer than six points the rest of the set as the Flyers won 25-17. Lewis hit .517 in the frame recording 16 kills against one error in 29 swings.

The Flyers used a 7-2 run early in set two to break a 3-3 tie and never looked back as they led by as many as seven points in the stanza. Loyola got as close as three on a couple of occasions but Lewis pulled away down the stretch to win 25-18. The Flyers hit .550 in the middle frame with 13 kills against two errors in 20 swings.

The Ramblers used a 4-1 run in set three to take its first lead of the match at 9-8 on a kill from Piekarski. They continued to lead at 13-12 when Lewis began to seize control with a 9-2 run to build a 21-15 lead. The Flyer defense forced Loyola into five hitting errors in that run. The Ramblers cut the lead to five twice including fighting off two championship points before Coenen finished it off with a kill.

It's the first time since 2000 that Lewis has beaten Loyola three times in a season. The sweep was the 18th of the season for Lewis including the three in the MIVA Tournament. It's the most during the Friend era for three-set wins.

The Flyers will find out on Sunday (April 20) who they'll be playing, when and where as the selections will be announced on NCAA.com at 12 p.m. (CT).