ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – Lewis University's sixth ranked women's volleyball team opened its season on Friday with a pair of wins at the Flagler Saints Invitational in St. Augustine, Fla. The Flyers defeated Eckerd in the season opener and then knocked off the host Flagler in the nightcap.

In Lewis' first match of the season it had little trouble with Eckerd (1-1) rolling to a straight set win (25-16, 25-15, 25-7). Ava Venema (Westmont, Ill./Timothy Christian) led the Flyers with 10 kills in the contest while Amanda Greening (Metamora, Ill./Metamora) added eight and Natalie Stefanski (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet West) finished with seven. Lauren Stenman (Maplewood, Minn./North St. Paul) had 20 assists and Jamie Poppen (Ballwin, Mo./Parkway West) finished with nine digs.

Lewis hit .448 in the contest recording 43 kills against four errors in 87 chances. The Flyer defense also had six total blocks in the match.

Lewis never trailed in the opening set as they led by as many as nine in the stanza. Venema had seven kills in nine swings in the opening frame while Stefanski added three kills and Greening finished with two kills.

The Flyers trailed 10-9 in the middle stanza before seizing control with a 10-2 run to take a 19-12 lead. The Tritons got as close as six points before Lewis slammed the door shut scoring five of the final six points to win the set.

The third set was all Flyers as they hit .619 (13-0-21) on its way to the 25-7 victory. Venema and Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg) led the way with three kills apiece in the final frame while Stefanski, Bella Ray (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic) and Lauren Stenman (Maplewood, Minn./North St. Paul) had two kills each.

In its second match of the day Lewis shook off a slow start as it overcame a five-point deficit and eventually took an eight-point lead. Flagler (1-1) made a late run cutting the Flyer lead to 24-20 forcing Lewis to call a timeout. The Flyers closed out the set on the next point on a kill from Greening.

Lewis held a four-point lead early in set two, but the Saints went on an 11-3 run to grab a 16-12 advantage. The Flyers fought back to even the set at 16 before Flagler went on another run to regain the lead. Lewis responded scoring six of the next seven points to grab a 23-21 lead but were unable to close the set out as the Saints came back to win 30-28 and even the match at a set apiece.

The Flyers stormed out of the gates in set three scoring nine of the first 10 points to take an eight-point lead. Flagler cut Lewis' lead to 13-8 after back-to-back service aces from Victoria Bowrosen. That would be the closest it got as the Flyers scored seven of the next nine points to extend its lead to 20-10 and would go onto win the set 25-16.

The fourth stanza was similar to the third as Lewis raced out to a 9-1 lead only to see Flagler make a run to get within five. The Flyers once again I pulled away scoring seven of the next 11 points to extend its lead to 18-10 after an attack error by Rebekah Machovec. Lewis closed the match strong securing a 25-15 victory.

The Flyers had four players reach double figures in kill totals led by Venema and Juliana Van Loo (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs) with 15 kills apiece. The 15 kills were a new career-high for Van Loo. Greening and Schlechte had 12 kills apiece. Stenman handed out 43 assists and Poppen had a career-high 36 digs to go along with seven assists.

Lewis finished the match hitting .246 recording 63 kills against 20 errors in 175 total attempts. The Flyer defense held the Saints to a .096 hitting percentage (39 kills/23 errors/167 total attacks).

Lewis concludes play in the Flagler Saint Invitational on Saturday taking on Belmont Abbey at 10 a.m. (CDT) and Valdosta State at 4 p.m. (CDT).