ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's seventh ranked men's volleyball team welcomes fifth ranked Long Beach State to Neil Carey Arena this Friday (Jan. 21) at 7 p.m. and then concludes its five-match homestand on Saturday hosting Belmont Abbey at 7 p.m.
Spectator Policy – At this time,
NO VISITING SPECTATORS will be permitted inside Neil Carey Arena for Lewis athletic events. In addition, at this time
NO LEWIS UNIVERSITY STUDENTS will be allowed to attend home events inside Neil Carey Arena due to University density restrictions. The updated policy limits attendees to Lewis University student-athlete and coaching staff member guests.
Last Time Out – The Flyers went 3-0 last week opening its season with a sweep of Maryville last Tuesday and then defeated NJIT in four sets and finished the weekend with a sweep of Saint Francis (Pa.). Lewis averaged nearly 13 kills per set while hitting .412 in the three victories and were led by
Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS) who averaged 3.50 kills per set while hitting .640.
John Davis (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) and
Cole Brillhart (York, Pa./Northeastern) averaged 2.71 and 2.70 kills per set respectively.
Defensively, the Flyers averaged 2.85 blocks per set and were led by
Michael Sack (Oak Lawn, Ill./St. Laurence) with 13 total blocks while
Tyler Morgan (Dike, Iowa/New Hartford) added 12 blocks and Mitchem had 10 blocks.
AVCA Division I-II Poll – Lewis climbed two spots in this week's AVCA Division I-II from ninth to seventh and extended its streak of being ranked to 182 weeks which includes 60 straight weeks in the top 10. The last time the Flyers weren't ranked in the AVCA Poll was on Jan. 31, 2011.
ACES – Lewis set a single match record for aces in a three-set match with 15 in the season opening win against Maryville last weekend. Brillhart finished with a match-high five aces.
About Long Beach State – The Beach opened their season this past weekend with sweeps of Harvard and Erskine at the Walter Pyramid in Long Beach. Clarke Godbold and Alex Nikolov paced the offensive attack averaging 3.83 and 3.17 kills per set respectively. Aidan Knipe ran on offense that averaged 11.50 assists per set and he accounted for 66 of the team's 69 assists in the two contests.
Defensively, Godbold and Marc Moody had five blocks apiece while on the back line Nikolov averaged 2.00 digs per set and Spencer Olivier added 1.60 digs per set.
About Belmont Abbey – The Crusaders went 3-0 last week with sweeps in all three matches. They opened their season with back-to-back sweeps of Long Island last Monday and Tuesday and then defeated Carolina University last Thursday. Matteo Miselli was named the Conference Carolinas Player of the Week and Matthew Maxwell took home Specialist of the Week honors.
Miselli hit an impressive .421 over three matches with 32 kills, six aces, nine digs and four blocks while Maxwell tallied 76 assists with 21 and four kills in eight sets played.
Belmont Abbey is coming off its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021 where it lost to Penn State in an opening round match.
Series Stuff – Friday's contest marks the eighth meeting all-time between Lewis and Long Beach State with the Beach having won five of the previous seven meetings. LBSU has won two straight in the series including a three-set win in the last meeting between the two sides in 2018 at Neil Carey Arena.
Saturday's match marks the first ever meeting between the Flyers and Belmont Abbey.
Up Next – The Flyers head to California next weekend for matches against fourth ranked Pepperdine scheduled for next Friday (Jan. 28) at 9 p.m. (CST) and against second ranked UCLA next Saturday (Jan. 29) at 7 p.m. (CST).
