DENVER, Colo. – The fifth ranked Lewis University women's volleyball team split its matches in bracket play to take third place at the Colorado Premiere Challenge on Saturday. The Flyers (7-1) suffered their first defeat of the season falling to Southwest Minnesota State 3-1 in the semifinals but finished the weekend strong sweeping Regis in the third place match.
Of the 12 teams competing in Denver this weekend nine of them were ranked in the latest AVCA Top 25 poll and a 10th team was in the receiving votes category.
Lewis fought hard in its semifinal match against the 15th ranked Mustangs (6-2). The match featured 36 ties and nine lead changes and the first three sets were decided by a total of six points.
The Flyers trailed by as many as five in the opening frame but fought back to within 24-23 after back-to-back kills from
Alexandra Preuss (Elmhurst, Ill./York) and
Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian). SMSU was able to hold off the Lewis rally as Jenna Walczak recorded a kill to give the Mustangs the 25-23 victory.
The second set alone saw 21 ties and six lead changes as the Flyers needed to work overtime to pick up a 30-28 win to even the match at a set apiece. Each side fought off two set points before the Flyers got back-to-back kills from
Colleen Wilhelm (Euclid, Ohio/Lake Catholic) to end the set.
Lewis trailed for a majority of set three but came back to tie things at 23 on a kill from
Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg). Southwest Minnesota State scored the final two points of the set on back-to-back kills from Meg Schmidt and Walczak to win it 25-23.
The Flyers trailed by five early in the fourth set before cutting the Mustang lead to 14-11. That would be the closest they got as SMSU ended the match on an 11-5 run to take it 25-16.
Lewis hit .176 in the match and had three players reach double figures in kills led by Wilhelm with 14. Schlechte and Preuss had 11 and 10 kills respectively.
Mikah Freppon (Cold Spring, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) had 38 assists while
Jamie Poppen (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West) had 17 digs. Venema was tied for the match-high in total blocks with seven.
In the third place match, the Flyers raced out to an early seven point lead and never let the Rangers (6-2) get closer than two points the rest of the set as they would go onto win 25-17.
Lewis got off to another fast start in the middle set taking a 7-2 lead. Regis came back to even the set at 15 after a bad set by Freppon. The Flyers closed it out scoring 10 of the final 13 points to win the set 25-18 to take the commanding 2-0 lead. Wilhelm had three kills in the set deciding run.
Lewis trailed 10-7 in set three before going on a 13-3 run to build a seven-point advantage on a service ace from Poppen. The Rangers cut the lead to 21-17 but that was the closest they got as The Flyers closed it out scoring four of the last five points to win 25-18.
Lewis hit .271 for the match while holding Regis to a .109 hitting percentage. Venema had a match-high 14 kills while
Caroline Stefanon (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) added nine and Preuss contributed seven. Freppon had 40 assists and Poppen finished with 14 digs.
The Flyers return to action next weekend as they travel to New York for three matches. They'll play Holy Family next Friday at 2 p.m. (CDT) and New Haven at 4 p.m. (CDT) before concluding the trip on Saturday against the hosts Molloy College at 12 p.m. (CDT).
