KIRKSVILLE, Mo. – Lewis University's 20th ranked women's volleyball team swept Truman State on Friday evening at Pershing Arena to clinch the GLVC Volleyball East Division Championship. The Flyers improve to 20-6, 14-1 GLVC while the Bulldogs drop to 6-20, 2-12 GLVC.

The opening set was even at 14 when Lewis seized control scoring four straight points. Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) had two kills in that run while Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg) added an ace and a kill. Truman closed the gap to 22-19 on a kill by Ainsley Heise but that was the closest it got as the Flyers scored three of the final four points to take the opening stanza 25-20.

Lewis never trailed in the middle frame scoring the first three points and led by as many as eight in the set. The Bulldogs made a late surge to get within 21-18 after an ace from Hanna Berry but that would be the closest it got as the Flyers scored four of the last five points to win the stanza 25-19. Natalie Stefanski (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet West) led Lewis with five kills in the frame while Schlechte added three and Venema and Farah Taki (North Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) finished with two apiece.

Lewis raced out to a 10-5 lead in the final set and wouldn't let Truman get closer than three points. The Flyers put the match away with an 8-2 run to extend its lead from 15-12 to 23-14. Schlechte had two kills in that run while Stefanski and Venema had one each. Lewis also had two blocks in that run with Schlechte teaming up with Bella Ray (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic) for one of them and Lauren Stenman (Maplewood, Minn./North St. Paul) for the other. Taki recorded back-to-back kills to end the match.

The Flyers hit .233 in the match recording 43 kills against 16 errors in 116 chances. Schlechte finished with a match-high 13 kills while Stefanski added nine and Venema finished with eight. Stenman had a match-high 33 assists, Jamie Poppen (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West) had a match-high 22 digs and Venema had five total blocks.

Lewis' defense held the Bulldogs to .009 attack percentage with 23 kills against 22 errors in 113 swings. Berry led Truman with seven kills. Rachel DeFries finished with 11 assists, Macy Vanfossan had 13 digs and Kate Benzing tallied three blocks.

The Flyers continue their road trip on Saturday as they travel to St. Louis, Mo. to take on Missouri-St. Louis at 3 p.m. at the Mark Twain Building.