COLUMBUS, OHIO – Lewis University's fourth ranked and third seeded men's volleyball team will take on seventh ranked and sixth seeded Penn State in a NCAA Opening Round Match on Tuesday (May 4) at 7 p.m. (CT) at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio.
The Flyers are making their ninth appearance in the NCAA Men's Collegiate Volleyball National Championships and fifth in the
Dan Friend era. Lewis is 2-7 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. In its last appearance in 2019 at Long Beach State the Flyers, seeded fifth, defeated USC, seeded fourth, 3-1 (20-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-23) to advance to the semifinals for the sixth time in program history. In the semifinals, Lewis fell to top ranked and top seeded Hawaii 3-1 (15-25, 17-25, 32-30, 16-25).
Tuesday's contest marks the 38th meeting all-time between the Flyers and Nittany Lions with Penn State holding a 24-13 advantage in the series but Lewis has won seven of the last 10 meetings in the series. The two sides have played each other every year since the Flyers began their program in 1994. Last season, Lewis took the first two sets against the Nittany Lions at Neil Carey Arena but Penn State stormed back to win the final three sets to win the match 3-2 (22-25, 36-38, 25-14, 25-20, 15-12).
Tuesday's contest also marks the third time since 2014 that the two teams have met in the NCAA Tournament. The Nittany Lions defeated the Flyers 3-1 (27-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-19) in the Play-in match at Loyola Chicago in 2014. Lewis got its revenge the following year defeating Penn State 3-1 (25-20, 22-25, 25-16, 25-20) in the semifinals at Stanford to advance to the national championship match.
The Flyers have won 12 straight matches and dropped only two sets during their current winning streak. The two sets they dropped came in the same match at Loyola in the regular season finale on April 2.
Lewis swept its way through the MIVA Tournament to clinch the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Flyers opened the tournament with a sweep of Quincy, then swept Ball State in semifinals and Loyola for the championship.
The Flyers return four players and three starters who played in the 2019 NCAA Championships in
Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin),
Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS),
TJ Murray (Barrington, Ill./Barrington HS) and
Kyle Bugee (Cupertino, Calif./Homestead). Two current starters in
Cole Brillhart (York, Pa./Northeastern) and
Carlos Jimenez (Miami Beach, Fla./FLVS) were also members of the 2019 team but redshirted that season.
Penn State enters Tuesday's contest with a record of 22-3 and champions of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA). The Nittany Lions punched their ticket to the Championships defeating Saint Francis in the semifinals 3-0 and No. 13 George Mason 3-1 in the EIVA Championship match. PSU knocked off seventh seeded Belmont Abbey in an Opening Round match on Monday (May 3) evening.
Cal Fisher led PSU with 10 kills against the Crusaders while Brett Wildman and Michal Kowal had nine and seven kills respectively. Wildman had four service aces while Cole Bogner finished with 30 set assists.
The Nittany Lions are hitting .336 as a team this season and averaging 11.7 kills per set. Fisher leads the team on the offensive side of the ball with 270 kills and is averaging 3.51 kills per set while Wildman has terminated 227 balls and is averaging 3.29 kills per set. Bogner runs the offense and is distributing 9.71 assists per set.
Defensively, Penn State is led on the front line by Sam Marsh and Canyon Turman who are averaging 0.84 and 0.66 blocks per set respectively. On the back line, Will Bantle leads the way with an average of 1.80 digs per set.
The winner of Tuesday's night's match will take on second ranked and second seeded BYU in the semifinals on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. (CT) at the Covelli Center.
