ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The No. 7 Lewis men's volleyball team swept Lindenwood on Saturday to clinch the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) regular season championship. The Flyers improve to 22-5 overall on the season and 13-1 in MIVA play while the Lions fall to 9-18, 5-9 MIVA.
Lewis outhit Lindenwood in the match .319-to-.138. Each team recorded 31 kills but the Lions committed 20 attack errors to only nine for the Flyers.
Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) and
Mitch Perinar (Channahon, IL/Minooka) led Lewis with eight kills apiece while
Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS) finished with seven kills.
Matt Yoshimoto (Ventura, CA/Adolfo Camarillo) had 29 assists and
Michael Simmons (Aurora, IL/Waubonsie Valley) finished with six digs.
Lewis had 12 service aces in the match with
Julian Moses (Atlanta, GA/Atlanta International School) recording five of them.
The Flyers led wire-to-wire in the opening set racing out to an early seven point lead and wouldn't allow Lindenwood to get closer than five points during the stanza on their way to the 25-17 victory.
TJ Murray (Barrington, IL/Barrington HS) led Lewis with three kills in the frame while Mitchem and Perinar had two kills each.
The Flyers used a 10-3 run in the middle set to turn an early deficit into a six-point lead after an error by Jeremy Kirch. The Lions cut the lead to three points on three different occasions but each time Lewis had an answer. The Flyers closed the set on a 6-3 run to pick up the 25-19 win.
Lewis trailed by two midway through the middle set but responded with seven straight points to grab a 21-16 lead after a bad set from Phil Swartz. Lindenwood wouldn't go quietly though responding with a 4-2 run to get within 23-20 on a kill from Adam Brewster. The Flyers were able to close it out with a kill from Coenen and a bad set from Brewster ended the match.
The Lions were led by Connor Hipelius and Diego Negron with seven kills each. Brewster finished with 26 assists and seven digs.
Lewis hosts No. 8 seed Quincy in the quarterfinal round of the MIVA Tournament next Saturday (April 13) at 7 p.m.
