ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The No. 7 Lewis women's volleyball team opened its 2019 season with back-to-back sweeps on Friday at the Nova Southeastern Shark Invitational in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The Flyers defeated Millersville in the opener and defeated Shaw in their second game of the day.

Lewis 3, Millersville 0
Lewis flew out of the gates scoring 13 of the first 14 points and never looked back on its way to a 25-6 win in the opening set. The Flyers hit .400 in the first stanza while holding the Marauders (0-1) to a negative .125 attack percentage. Colleen Wilhelm (Euclid, Ohio/Lake Catholic) and Alexandra Preuss (Elmhurst, Ill./York) had five kills each in the frame.

Millersville led by as many as five in the middle stanza but Lewis responded with a 9-0 run to take a 15-11 lead after a bad set by Kat Forry. The Flyers wouldn't let the Marauders to get any closer than two points the rest of the frame as they scored eight of the final 11 points to win the set 25-18.

Lewis jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the third set and led by as many as 16 in the set on its way to the 25-10 victory. Preuss led the way with four kills in the set while Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg) added three and Farah Taki (North Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) and Gisela Bode (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie) had two kills apiece.
The Flyers finished the match with an attack percentage of .269 (43k-14e-108ta). Preuss and Wilhelm led the offense with 11 kills apiece. Haley Sobieralski (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) had 21 assists and Ronni Katarzynski (Winfield, Ill./West Chicago) finished with 21 digs.

Lewis 3, Shaw 0
In its second match of the day, Lewis started fast again building an early lead and pulled away midway through the opening set thanks to a 9-0 run. Wilhelm had four kills in that deciding run while Preuss added three. The Flyers hit .387 in the stanza on their way to the 25-13 victory.

Lewis trailed by three early in the second set but responded with an 11-3 run to turn the deficit into a five-point advantage. The Flyers wouldn't allow the Bears (0-2) to get closer than five points the rest of the frame on their way to the 25-14 victory.

Lewis used a run early in set three to build a five-point cushion and then put the match away by scoring 12 of the final 14 points to win the set 25-12. Preuss and Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) led the way with three kills each in the stanza while Schlechte and Van Loo had two kills each.

The Flyers finished the match with a .368 hitting percentage recording 44 kills against 12 errors in 87 chances. Preuss led the way with 11 kills. Sobieralski and Mikah Freppon (Cold Spring, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) had 19 assists each and Schlechte led the way with 12 digs.

Lewis returns to the court on Saturday for the final day of the NSU Shark Invitational. The Flyers will take on No. 15 Palm Beach Atlantic at 8:30 a.m. (CDT) and then conclude play against Puerto-Rico Mayaguez at 1:30 p.m. (CDT).