ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's 13th ranked women's volleyball team rallied from a set down twice to defeat Illinois Springfield 3-2 (18-25, 25-21, 22-25, 25-12, 15-12) on Tuesday evening at Neil Carey Arena. The win is the eighth straight for the Flyers as they improve to 13-3, 8-0 GLVC while the Prairie Stars drop to 6-9, 4-3 GLVC.

The opening set was tied at eight when UIS went on a 6-1 run to take a 14-9 lead on a kill from Ryleigh Warfel. Lewis got back to within 14-10 on a block from Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) but that was the closet it got the rest of the set as the Prairie Stars ran off six of the next seven points to grab a 19-11 lead. The Flyers tried to rally late getting within six but UIS got a kill from Hannah Nicolaisen to win the opener 25-18.

Lewis led by three midway through the second stanza but the Prairie Stars rallied with an 8-4 run to gain a 20-19 advantage when Nicolaisen and Angela Denny teamed up to block Juliana Van Loo (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs). The Flyers regained the lead at 21-20 on back-to-back kills from Van Loo and Farah Taki (North Aurora, Ill./West Aurora). UIS came right back as Nicolaisen and Megan Krasowski blocked Van Loo to even things at 21. Lewis closed the set scoring the final four points as Van Loo and Lauren Stenman (Maplewood, Minn./North St. Paul) each had a kill and Venema and Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg) had a big block of Nicolaisen to win the set 25-21.

The third frame was similar to the second with 14 ties and three lead changes. It was tied at 22 after a kill from Venema but Illinois Springfield took the set by scoring the final three points to win 25-22.

The Flyers needed to answer once again and answer they did. The set was tied at 10 when they seized control closing the frame on a 15-2 run. Ally Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) served the final eight points of the run while Van Loo, Venema and Schlechte combined for seven kills in the run. Lewis hit .414 in the stanza and held UIS to .000 hitting percentage.

The Flyers trailed by two early in set five before going on an 8-3 run to grab an 11-8 on a kill from Natalie Stefanski (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet West). The Prairie Stars cut Lewis' lead to 11-10 on a kill from Denney but kills from Van Loo and Schlechte gave the Flyers a 13-10 lead. UIS got to within 14-12 on a kill from Nicolaisen before Van Loo's career-high 21st kill sealed the come from behind victory.

Lewis hit .173 for the contest recording 65 kills against 30 kills in 202 swings and had four players reach double figures in kills in the contest. Van Loo had a match-high in kills and was joined by Taki who also had a career-high with 13 kills while Venema added 12 and Schlechte finished with 11. Stenman added 48 assists, Venema finished with a career-high 11 total blocks and Jamie Poppen (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West) had a match-high 33 digs.

The Prairie Stars finished the contest hitting .130 with 55 kills against 31 errors in 184 attempts. Denney lead three players in double figures with 15 kills while Warfel and Krasowski had 11 and 10 respectively. Becca Blakeley had 46 assists, Nicolaisen had six blocks and Amanda McConnell finished with 26 digs.

The Flyers are back in action on Friday as they travel to Springfield, Mo., to take on Drury at 7 p.m. at the O'Reilly Family Events Center.