ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's 21st ranked women's volleyball team returns home this Saturday (Oct. 23) to host the Indianapolis Greyhounds in a 3 p.m. contest at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers enter Saturday's contest with a record of 15-6, 9-1 GLVC while the Greyhounds enter the weekend with a record of 10-11, 6-3 GLVC.
Last Time Out – Lewis looks to bounce back from a tough weekend at the Midwest Region Crossover where it went 1-2. The Flyers dropped their first two matches to No. 20 Michigan Tech and No. 18 Hillsdale in straight sets last Friday but closed the weekend strong with a sweep of Northwood on Saturday.
It's Poppen! – Fifth-year senior libero
Jamie Poppen (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West) recorded 66 digs and averaged 7.33 digs per set last weekend at the Crossover. She totaled the most digs over the weekend among the 38 teams that competed. Poppen was named to the Midwest Region Crossover All-Tournament team for her efforts and was also named the GLVC's Defensive Player of the Week for the third time this season and seventh of her career on Monday afternoon.
AVCA Rankings – Lewis fell five spots to No. 21 in this week's AVCA Division II Poll and is the lone representative from the GLVC in the rankings.
League Leaders – Poppen continues to lead the league in digs with 6.08 per set while sophomore setter
Lauren Stenman (Maplewood, Minn./North St. Paul) holds the top spot in assists with 10.64 per set. Fifth year senior middle blocker
Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) and junior rightside hitter
Juliana Van Loo (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs) are third and fourth in hitting percentage at .379 and .353 respectively. Venema and Van Loo are also ranked in the top 10 in kills per set at fifth and eighth. Junior outside hitter
Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg) is ninth in the conference in service aces at 0.32 per set while sophomore middle blocker
Bella Ray (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic) is fifth in blocking with 1.07 blocks per set.
Balanced Attack – The Flyers have four players averaging over 2.00 kills per set this season led by Venema with 3.31 per set while Van Loo is averaging 2.95 per set and Schlechte and sophomore outside hitter
Natalie Stefanski (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet West) are contributing 2.60 and 2.49 kills per set respectively.
About UIndy – The Greyhounds dropped all three of their contests last weekend at the Crossover. They were swept by Hillsdale and Grand Valley State last Friday and then lost in four sets to Trevecca Nazarene on Saturday afternoon.
Grace Hegwood leads the Hounds with 3.03 kills per set while Lauren Cullison is averaging 2.56 kills per set. Alex Equiha is the team's primary setter and is distributing 9.93 assists per set. Defensively, Hannah Huppenbauer leads the way along the front line with 0.89 blocks per set and on the back line its Makenna Barnhart leading the way with 4.16 digs per set.
Series Stuff – Lewis leads the all-time series against UIndy 54-17 and has won 11 of the last 13 meetings. The Flyers defeated the Greyhounds in four sets earlier this season on Sept. 28 at UIndy.
