ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis' fifth ranked men's volleyball team swept Lindenwood in a battle for the top spot in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association standings on Saturday evening at Neil Carey Arena. With the win, the Flyers improve to 11-4, 4-1 MIVA while the Lions are now 9-6, 2-2 MIVA.
Lewis trailed 12-6 in the opening set before storming back with an 8-2 run to even the score at 14 on a kill from
Kyle Bugée (Cupertino, Calif./Homestead). The two sides traded the next eight points and were tied at 18 when the Flyers took control scoring five straight points to grab a 23-18 lead. Lindenwood silenced the run momentarily but a kill and an ace from
Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) gave Lewis the opening set 25-19.
The Flyers dominated the second set hitting .529 in the stanza and never trailed in the frame. They lead by as many as nine in the set but Lindenwood rallied to cut the margin to five at 18-13 after an ace from AJ Lewis. After a timeout, Lewis regrouped scoring seven of the final 11 points to win the set 25-17.
The third set featured 12 ties and five lead changes. The Flyers built a three-point lead midway through the stanza but the Lions came back to tie the set at 20 after a service error by
Dalen Instenes (Racine, WI/William Horlick). Lewis held off the late charge from Lindenwood scoring five of the final six points of the match to secure the sweep.
Coenen led the Flyers with 12 kills while
Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS) added 10 and Bugèe finished with six kills. Bugèe also had six aces in the contest.
Kevin Kauling (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) handed out 30 assists while Bugèe, Instenes and
Jason Gibbs (Bellaire, Texas/Bellarie) had seven digs apiece.
Lewis hit .324 (36 kills/13 errors/71 total attacks) for the contest.
Diego Negron led the Lions with 11 kills while Jeremy Kirch finished with eight kills. Brian Schwob had 30 assists while Kyle Deutschmann finished with a match-high nine digs. Lindenwood had an attack percentage of .176 (31 kills/ 16 errors/ 85 total attacks) for the match.
The Flyers travel to Fort Wayne, Indiana next Thursday to take on Purdue Fort Wayne at 6:30 p.m. (CST).
