ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's 21st ranked women's volleyball team wrapped up its home schedule with an unbeaten record holding off a rally to defeat Rockhurst 3-2 (25-19, 25-18, 21-25, 26-28, 15-9) on Saturday afternoon at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers improve to 18-6, 12-1 GLVC while the Hawks fall to 16-9, 9-4 GLVC.

The first set was a back-and-forth affair with 13 ties and six lead changes. Rockhurst led 16-15 midway through the stanza but Lewis responded with a quick 4-0 run to grab a 19-16 lead. Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) had a kill and an ace while Bella Ray (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic) added a kill. The Hawks got back within two at 19-17 but that was the closest they got as the Flyers scored six of the final eight points to take the opener 25-19.

Lewis led virtually the entire second set racing out to an early five-point lead and never let Rockhurst get closer than four points in the stanza on its way to a 25-18 set victory. The Flyers hit .406 in the frame and were led by Juliana Van Loo (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs) with six kills while Ray added four and Venema chipped in with three.

The third frame was tight early before the Hawks seized control with a 7-2 run to take a 13-8 lead on a kill from Tera Reberry. Lewis cut the deficit to three but that was the closest it got as Rockhurst ran off four in a row to build its largest lead of the set at 17-10. The Flyers made things interesting late getting to with 24-21 after a kill from Van Loo that forced the Hawks to call a timeout. Reberry ended the set on the next swing to give Rockhurst the 25-21 set win.

The Hawks led by as many as three points in the fourth stanza at 23-20 and were on the verge of forcing a fifth set but Lewis countered with four straight points to get to match point on a kill by Lauren Stenman (Maplewood, Minn./North St. Paul). Rockhurst scored back-to-back points on kills by Sarah Montague and Averi Vomastic to get to its first set point. The two teams swapped points and were tied at 26. Vomastic gave the Hawks their third set point of the frame with a kill and an error by Amanda Greening (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) gave Rockhurst the 28-26 set victory and extended the match to a fifth set.

The final stanza was tied at four when the Flyers seized control thanks to a 7-0 run. Lewis' defense came up big in that run as Stenman and Venema teamed up three teams to record blocks. The Flyers led 14-7 and had the chance to serve out the match but the Hawks wouldn't go without a fight getting back-to-back points to cut the lead to 14-9. Lewis ended the match after a timeout on a kill from Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg) to win the final set 15-9.

The Flyers recorded 76 kills, hit .224 in the contest and had four players reach double figures in kills led by Van Loo with a match-high 21 kills while Venema finished with 15, Ray added 14 and Natalie Stefanski (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet West) had 13. Stenman had a match-high 59 set assists, Venema had a match-high nine blocks and Jamie Poppen (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West) led Lewis wit 25 digs.

Rockhurst hit .155 for the match recording 51 kills and was led by Vomastic with 14 kills. Gabbie Inman had 21 set assists, Justice Wingate had five blocks and Maureen Reilly finished with a match-high 29 digs.

The Flyers begin a five-match road trip on Tuesday (Nov. 2) as they travel to Springfield, Ill., to take on Illinois Springfield at 7 p.m.