COLUMBUS, OHIO – Lewis University's fourth ranked men's volleyball team swept seventh ranked Penn State in a NCAA Opening Round match on Tuesday evening at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio. The Flyers (21-2) advance to Thursday's semifinal contest where they'll face second ranked BYU at 8 p.m. (EDT) at the Covelli Center.
"I'm super proud of the guys as it was really great match," Lewis head men's volleyball coach
Dan Friend said. "Penn State certainly serves the ball really well and we haven't faced that in conference much this year. We've got some great servers in our conference but they keep bringing it at you. I thought we found a way to scrap some points out in the middle of the game.
"I'm really proud of the guys and how we fought through the middle of the match and towards the end. We found a way to win game two and create some opportunities in game three," Friend said. "Penn State is a great team and with all of those guys coming back they are certainly deadly with how they run their offense."
Lewis had to play from behind to begin the match trailing 3-1 before going on a 6-1 run to take a 7-4 lead after an error by Cole Bogner. The Nittany Lions (22-4) came back to tie the set at 11 on a service error from
Cole Brillhart (York, Pa./Northeastern).
The two sides would go back and forth and were still tied at 18 after a kill from Call Fisher. Penn State flinched first as Michal Kowal committed a service to give the Flyers a 19-18 lead.
Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin) extended the lead to 20-18 with a kill. The Nittany Lions cut Lewis' lead to one five different times but the Flyers kept them at arms' length and never let them tie the score taking the opening set on a kill from Coenen to win 25-23.
Lewis trailed by as many as five midway through the second set before going on a 9-4 run to even the set at 18 on a kill from Coenen. Penn State held four different one-point leads but were unable to break free from the Flyers. A service error by Brett Wildman tied the set at 23 and then an attack error by Kowal gave Lewis its first set point. Fisher tied the set at 24 with a kill but a service error by Sam Marsh gave the Flyers their second chance to close out the set. Wildman extended the set with a kill to even things at 25.
Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS) put Lewis back in front with a kill and this time the Flyers closed out as Coenen capped a long rally with a kill off the block and out of bounds to give Lewis a 27-25 victory.
The Flyers again trailed by five in the third set before storming back with a 10-4 run to take a 15-14 lead on a kill from
Kyle Bugee (Cupertino, Calif./Homestead). The two sides traded the next two points and were tied at 16 when the Flyers began to pull away.
Lewis regained the lead after
TJ Murray (Barrington, Ill./Barrington HS) stuffed Wildman at the net and then Bugee made it 18-16 with a kill forcing Penn State to take its final timeout of the set. The Nittany Lions scored out of the timeout getting a kill from Fisher to make it 18-17 but that was the closest they got as the Flyers closed the match on a 7-3 run winning it on a service ace from Mitchem.
Lewis hit .460 for the contest recording 46 kills against six errors in 87 chances and were led by Mitchem and Coenen with 14 and 12 kills respectively. Bugee added eight kills while Murray finished with seven kills and three blocks.
Kevin Kauling (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) finished with a double-double recording 37 assists and was tied for the match-high in digs with 10. Kauling also added six blocks.
Penn State hit .277 for the match registering 38 kills against 12 errors in 94 swings and was led by Fisher with 13 kills. Bogner had 32 assists while Will Bantle finished with 10 digs.
