ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's fourth ranked men's volleyball swept 10th ranked Loyola Chicago, 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-19) on Saturday evening at Neil Carey Arena to win its second consecutive MIVA Tournament championship and earned the MIVA's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in Columbus Ohio, May 3-8.
The Flyers (20-2) never trailed in the opening set as they opened the match on a 6-1 run. The Ramblers (15-6) cut Lewis' lead to 10-7 after a kill from Colton Brooks but wouldn't get any closer as the Flyers went on a 10-3 to build a 20-10 lead when
Kevin Kauling (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley),
TJ Murray (Barrington, Ill./Barrington HS) and
Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) blocked Cole Schlothauer.
LUC cut the lead to 22-13 but Lewis scored three of the final four points to take the opener 25-14.
The second set saw five ties early in the frame before the Flyers began to pull away midway through the set. Lewis lead 24-20 let in the set and four chances to close out the set. The Ramblers fought off the first two set points before
Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS) ended the set with a kill to give the Flyers a 25-22 set win.
The final set was tied at four early then Lewis went on a 7-3 run to grab a four-point lead. Loyola cut the lead to three a couple of times but were unable to get closer than that as the Flyers closed the match scoring six of the final nine points to win 25-19.
Lewis hit .364 for the match recording 39 kills against 11 errors in 77 swings. The Flyers finished with nine total team blocks in the contest to four for the Ramblers. Coenen and
Kyle Bugee (Cupertino, Calif./Homestead) led Lewis with 10 kills apiece while Murray added nine and Mitchem finished with eight. Kauling had 32 assists and
Carlos Jimenez (Miami Beach, Fla./FLVS) finished with seven digs.
Loyola hit .115 for the contest registering 27 kills against 18 errors in 78 chances. Schlothauer led the Ramblers with nine kills while Luke Denton finished with eight kills. Garrett Zolg had 23 assists and five digs in the match. Jack Yentz matched Jimenez with seven digs in the contest.
Coenen was named the MIVA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player and was joined on the MIVA All-Tournament by Kauling and Mitchem. Schlothauer and Zolg were Loyola's representatives. McKendree's Francisco Comas and Ball State's Blake Reardon were the final two members of the All-Tournament team.
The Flyers will find out on Sunday when their first match in the NCAA Tournament will be during the NCAA Selection Show at noon on NCAA.com.
