ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Lewis University's 12th ranked men's volleyball team dropped a five-set match at McKendree on Saturday evening at the Harry S. Statham Sports Center in Lebanon, Ill. The Flyers fall to 11-9, 3-5 MIVA while the Bearcats improve to 10-8, 5-3 MIVA.

Lewis led by as many as six in the opening set while hitting .310 to win the opening 25-19. The Flyers had a balanced offensive attack in the stanza with Kevin Kauling (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley), Joe Kenzinger (Chicago, Ill./Brother Rice), Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS) John Davis (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) combining for 12 of the team's 14 kills.

McKendree led the second frame 15-12 after a kill from Daniel Duggan. Lewis countered with an 8-5 run to even things at 20 when Mitchem and Max Roquet (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) teamed up to stuff Ethan Carroll. The Bearcats answered right back scoring five of the final seven points of the set to win 25-22 and even the match at a set apiece.

The swing set went back-and-forth with neither side leading by more than two points through the first 40 points of the stanza. The Flyers broke a 20-all tie with a 3-1 run highlighted by Roquet's kill that made it 23-21. McKendree got a kill from Tommy McGrath to close within 23-22 but Lewis got kills from Roquet and Mitchem to win the set 25-22.

The fourth set was all Bearcats as they hit .500 in the frame while holding Lewis to a negative .036 hitting percentage. McKendree never trailed in the set as it led by as many as 14 points.

The Flyers scored the first two points of the final set but the Bearcats went on an 8-4 run to take a two-point lead after a kill from McGrath. Lewis got a kill from Kevin Kauling (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) to pull within 8-7 but McKendree scored back-to-back points to take a 10-7 lead. The Flyers scored four of the next five points to tie things at 11 after a kill from Mitchem but the Bearcats scored three of the next four points to reach match point first after a kill from Carroll.

Lewis fought off the first match point as Patrick Ross committed a service error but were unable to tie the match as Carroll finished it off with a kill from Francisco Comas.

The Flyers were held to a .192 attack percentage with 52 kills against 24 errors in 146 chances. Mitchem led the way with 15 kills while Davis added 13. Kauling had 31 assists and Jason Gibbs (Bellaire, Texas/Bellarie) finished with 17 digs. Mitchem also had six blocks.

McKendree hit .287 in the contest recording 66 kills against 23 errors in 150 swings. Carroll finished with a match-high 21 kills to lead three Bearcats in double figures. He was joined by Ross with 17 while Kevin Schuele added 10. Ryan Serrano had a match-high 49 assists, a team-high 14 digs and six total blocks.

Lewis returns to action next Thursday (March 24) as it travels to Fort Wayne, Ind., to take on Purdue Fort Wayne at 6 p.m. (CDT).