ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's sixth ranked men's volleyball team was defeated in straight sets by 10th ranked Ball State in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) opener for both clubs on Thursday evening at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers drop to 6-3, 0-1 MIVA while the Cardinals improve to 7-1, 1-0 MIVA.

Lewis led by as many as four in the opening set beginning the match with a 4-0 run. The Flyers held a one-point lead near the halfway point of the stanza but Ball State went on a 6-1 run to take its largest lead of the set at 17-13 on an error by Jason Gibbs (Bellaire, Texas/Bellarie). Lewis battled back to within 22-21 after a kill from Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS) but the Cardinals scored the next two points to get to set point first after Kaleb Jenness and Will Hippe blocked Cole Brillhart (York, Pa./Northeastern).

The Flyers scored four straight points to retake the lead at 25-24 after back-to-back errors from Jenness but were unable to close out the set as Brillhart's serve was long to even the set at 25. Ball State gave the point right back to Lewis as Jenness hit his serve into the net. The Cardinals then scored back-to-back points to retake the lead but Lewis came right back with two straight of its own to grab a 28-27 lead after Kevin Kauling (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) and Michael Sack (Oak Lawn, Ill./St. Laurence) blocked Felix Egharevba. Ball State retook the lead with back-to-back points but again couldn't close it outs as Angelos Mandilaris hit his serve into the net. However, the Cardinals were able to take the opening set 31-29 after back-to-back kills from Nick Martinski and Jenness.

The Flyers trailed by as many as six points in the middle stanza but made a late run to cut the Ball State advantage to 24-22 after a kill from Kauling when Martinski was called for being over the net. The Cardinals ended Lewis' 4-0 run as Mandilaris knocked down a kill to give BSU a 25-22 set victory.

The Cardinals were on fire offensively in the third frame hitting a whopping .739 with 17 kills against zero errors in 23 chances. Lewis wasn't bad either hitting .520 but committed four errors while recording 17 kills in 25 swings.

There were 12 ties and three lead changes as the two sides traded points until midway through the set when Ball State went on a 9-2 run to build a five-point lead. The Flyers wouldn't get closer than four points the rest of the way as the Cardinals pulled away to win the finale 25-20.

Mitchem led Lewis with 15 kills while Sack, Kauling and John Davis (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) had seven kills apiece. Kauling added 21 assists and eight digs. The Flyers hit .266 in the contest with 44 kills against 19 errors in 94 attempts.

Ball State hit .435 in the contest with 49 kills against nine error in 92 chances and were led by Jenness and Mandilaris with 18 and 17 kills respectively. Quinn Isaacson had 41 assists, Egharevba and Hippe had five blocks apiece and Martinski finished with nine digs.

Lewis concludes its three-match homestand on Saturday evening hosting No. 12 Ohio State at 5 p.m. at Neil Carey Arena.