ROMEOVILLE, Ill. -- Lewis University's top ranked women's volleyball team fell to 24th ranked Southern Indiana, 3-2 (25-21, 26-24, 18-25, 21-25, 8-15) for its first loss of the season on Saturday afternoon at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers finish the regular season at 16-1 while the Screaming Eagles improve to 14-4, both teams in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC).
 
Lewis and USI traded points to start off the match, but the Flyers managed to gain a two-point lead midway through the set after an attack by Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian). 
 
Lewis continued to pull away towards the end of the set as an attack from Amanda Greening (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) extended the lead to 22-17. Natalie Stefanski (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet West) sealed the set for the Flyers to give them the advantage going into the second frame.
 
The Screaming Eagles had an early lead over the Flyers, 8-3, as Leah Anderson registered two service aces. Behind the strong serves of Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg), Lewis came back to take the lead from the Screaming Eagles at 16-14.
 
Late in the frame, errors by the Flyers allowed Southern Indiana to gain a three-point advantage. The Screaming Eagles saved the first set point after a kill from Katherine Koch to extend the set but back-to-back hits from Greening allowed the Flyers to have the two-set lead.
 
Mirroring the second set, Southern Indiana opened up an early lead at 10-3 behind attacks from Anderson. Lewis came back to be within after a 10-4 run following a kill from Greening.
 
The Screaming Eagles called for time to cut the Flyers' momentum short and they responded to the Lewis run with attacks by Taylor Litteken. Consecutive attacks from Sidney Hegg and Anderson sealed the deal for Southern Indiana at 25-18.
 
The Flyers struggled to find an answer to the strong Screaming Eagles offense as they were down by four halfway through the fourth frame. Attacking errors by the Flyers allowed Screaming Eagles to pull away and sent the match into the fifth set after a running hit by Litteken.
 
Both teams went back and forth in the final set, but Lewis was unable to find its offenisve, allowing Southern Indiana to go up, 7-5. The Screaming Eagles clamped down at the net, tallying five blocks in the set to complete their comeback against the Flyers, 15-8.
 
Greening led Lewis with 13 kills, followed by Schlechte with 12, and Caroline Stefanon (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) with nine. The Flyers hit .133 for the match, tallying 57 kills on 119 attempts but committed 31 errors while Southern Indiana hit 0.197, tallying 60 kills on 203 attempts against 20 errors. Jaime Poppen led the team in digs with 31, followed by Haley Sobieralski (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) with 27.

For the Screaming Eagles, Anderson and Koch recorded 18 kills each, followed by Litteken with nine. Callie Gubera recorded a total of 38 digs for the team, as Anderson followed with 17.
 
The Flyers return to action next Friday as they open play in the GLVC Tournament at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria, Pairings and match times will be announced later this evening.