ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – After playing the first three weekends on the road the sixth ranked Lewis women's volleyball team opens its home schedule this weekend hosting Truman State on Friday at 6 p.m. and Quincy on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.
Last Time Out: The Flyers extended their winning streak to four going 3-0 at the Molloy Invitational in Rockville Centre, N.Y. last weekend. They swept Holy Family and New Haven last Friday and then won the final two sets against Molloy for a 3-2 victory. Lewis is now 10-1 on the season.
All-Tournament Honors: Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) and
Colleen Wilhelm (Euclid, Ohio/Lake Catholic) have each been named to All-Tournaments over the first two weekends. Venema and Wilhelm were both named to the NSU Shark Invitational All-Tournament team with Venema being named Co-MVP. She followed that up by being named to the All-Tournament squad at the Premiere Challenge in Denver.
Acing the Competition: Jamie Poppen (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West) leads the GLVC with 21 aces and is averaging 0.53 aces per set through the first 11 matches. She matched her career-high in aces with three at Molloy on Saturday.
Statistical Rankings: The Flyers are ranked in the top 20 in three different NCAA stat categories. They're 10th in assists per set with 13.15, 15th in kills per set at 14.05 and 16th in opponent hitting percentage at .119. Lewis also leads the GLVC in those categories along with blocks per set (2.34) and digs per set (18.28).
Venema is ranked 10th nationally in total blocks (50) and 14th in blocks per set (1.32).
Balanced Attack: The Flyers have had a balanced offensive attack to begin the season with
Alexandra Preuss (Elmhurst, Ill./York) leading the way with 3.08 kills per set. Venema is averaging 2.95 per set while Wilhelm is contributing 2.90 per set.
Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg) is adding 2.78 per set.
About Truman State: The Bulldogs enter Friday night's contest with a record of 6-6 after going 3-1 last weekend at the Bellarmine Classic. They're led by Morgan Smith whose averaging 4.02 kills per set while Sam Yancy and Jocelynn Livingston are averaging 3.03 and 3.00 per set respectively. Elise Hardesty is averaging 9.28 assists per set and Lauren Wacker leads the back line with 5.71 digs per set.
About Quincy: The Hawks improved to 5-8 on the season after going 3-1 last weekend at the Union Classic in Jackson, Tenn. They won their first three matches before falling to GLVC foe Missouri-St. Louis in straight sets. Quincy opens its GLVC slate at Illinois Springfield on Friday. Emily Rehagen leads the Hawk offense with 3.06 kills per set. Makayla Knoblauch runs the offense dishing out 9.20 assists per set. On the back line, Sarah Blair leads the way with 3.06 digs per set.
Series History: Lewis leads the all-time series with the Bulldogs 8-4 and have won the last four. The two sides met three times last season with the Flyers winning both regular season matches in straight sets and then rallied to beat Truman in four sets in the quarterfinals of the GLVC Tournament.
Lewis is 27-4 all-time against the Hawks and have won 20 in a row. The Flyers won both matches against Quincy last season in straight sets.
