ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis' sixth ranked men's volleyball team dropped its MIVA opener to McKendree in five sets on Friday evening at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers fall to 7-4, 0-1 MIVA while the Bearcats improve to 7-4, 1-0 MIVA.
Lewis struggled to get its offensive going in the opening frame as McKendree led by as many as six points in the set on its way to the 25-19 victory. The Bearcats hit .423 in the opening stanza while holding the Flyers to a .057 attack percentage.
The second set went back-and-forth with 12 ties in it. Lewis led by as many as three points in the set and were able to close out the stanza with a kill from
Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS). The Flyers hit .400 in the set while the Bearcats hit .261.
Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) had six kills in the set to pace Lewis.
The Flyers were their own worst enemy in the third set committing six attack errors in the frame. McKendree led by as many as five at 14-9 and 23-18. Lewis was able to cut the deficit to two points on three different occasions but were unable to get any closer as the Bearcats took the set 25-22.
The Flyers used a late run in set four to seize control on their way to the 25-21 victory. It was Lewis' best set of the match offensively as it hit .667 in the set and didn't have a hitting error.
The Flyers fell behind early in the decisive fifth set 3-1 before coming back to tie things at three. McKendree took the lead for good scoring three straight points. Lewis cut the deficit to 6-4 but four straight points from the Bearcats gave them a 10-4 lead. The Flyers fought back to within 13-9 but that was as close as they got as McKendree scored the final two points of the match.
Coenen finished with a match-high 19 kills and was joined in double figures by Mitchem with 12 while
Dalen Instenes (Racine, WI/William Horlick) added 11.
Kevin Kauling (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) had 46 assists and Coenen also finished with 12 digs. Lewis finished the match with a .254 hitting percentage.
Patrick Ross led the Bearcats with 14 kills while Ethan Carroll had 13 kills. Ryan Serrano distributed 41 assists and Zach Schnittker finished with 12 digs. McKendree finished the match with an attack percentage of .339.
The Flyers head to Columbus, Ohio next Thursday to take on No. 15 Ohio State at 6 p.m. (CST).
