Box Score ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's 10th ranked men's volleyball team fell in straight sets to Purdue Fort Wayne 23-25, 23-25, 22-25 on Thursday evening at Neil Carey Arena. The Flyers drop to 8-5, 2-3 MIVA while the Mastodons move to 9-6, 3-2 MIVA.
Lewis trailed early in the match before going on a 6-1 run to take a 13-11 lead after a service ace from
Kevin Kauling (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley). The Flyers still led at 15-13 after a
Cole Brillhart (York, Pa./Northeastern) kill but Purdue Fort Wayne responded with a 6-2 surge to take a 19-17 lead after a kill by Rico Wardlow.
Lewis fought back to take a 23-21 advantage after
Tyler Morgan (Dike, Iowa/New Hartford),
Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS) and Brillart triple blocked Jon Diedrich. The Flyers weren't able close out the stanza as the Mastodons scored the final four points to win 25-23.
Lewis trailed by as many as seven points in the middle frame before rallying to within 24-23 after a kill from
Jason Gibbs (Bellaire, Texas/Bellarie). The Flyers had a chance to even the set at 24 but
John Davis (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) was blocked by Wardlow and Zach Solomon to give second set to Purdue Fort Wayne 25-23.
The final set went back-and-forth over the first half before the Mastodons scored five straight points to turn a 14-13 deficit into an 18-14 lead. Lewis responded with three straight to cut the deficit to 18-17 but it wasn't able to retake the lead as Purdue Fort Wayne scored six of the next 10 points to take a 24-21 lead. The Flyers fought off one match point put not a second as Davis' serve was long allowing the Mastodons to win the stanza 25-22.
Lewis hit .159 for the match with 33 kills against 19 errors in 88 chances. Mitchem led the way with 11 kills while Davis finished with seven and Gibbs added six. Kauling had 19 assists and Davis finished with nine digs.
Purdue Fort Wayne had an attack percentage of .242 for the contest with 37 kills against 15 errors in 91 swings. Diedrich finished with a match-high 12 kills while Solomon and Vicente Ibarra had eight kills apiece. Sean Califf had 27 assists and Troy Gooch and Solomon had eight digs each.
The Flyers are back in action on Saturday evening as they take on Loyola-Chicago at 7 p.m. at Gentile Arena.
