Romeoville, Ill. -- The Lewis women's volleyball team launched an array of offense and defense Saturday afternoon (Oct. 5) in a clean three set sweep against William Jewell.

TEAM RECORDS
Lewis 11-5, 4-0 GLVC | William Jewell 4-12, 0-4 GLVC

LEWIS Leaders vs William Jewell
Kills: Natalie Stefanski (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet West) (11), Hannah Alvey (Mapleton, Ill./Illinois Central College) (11)
Aces: Rachel Kaczorowski (Carpentersville, Ill./Harry D. Jacobs) (2)
Blocks: Bella Ray (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic) (6)
Assists: Kaczorowski (15)
Digs: Alvey (5)

SET BREAKDOWN vs. William Jewell
Set 1: Lewis 25, William Jewell 16
Saturday afternoon's match was preceded by a celebration of Ray achieving her 1,000th career kill, as well as celebrating mother of Reese Renfrow (Prosper, Texas/Prosper High School), Elaine, and her four year remisson from breast cancer. 

The start of set number one saw an attack error by Stefanski which gave the Cardinals the first point of the match. Mallory Januski (Bourbonnais, Ill./Valparaiso) quickly responded with a kill to tie the set, but William Jewell retook the lead on the next play. The early part of the set went back and forth with several lead changes for both teams. Ray and Stefanski kept the game close with kills, keeping the Flyers above water. 

The Flyers went on a four point run shortly after thanks to two attacking errors from their opponents and a serving ace from Stefanski with a kill by Alvey. Lewis began to pull away even further after a few plays but the Flyers put a large space between the two teams with a seven point run to give them 22. The run saw mistakes from the Cardinals, a kill by Ray, a Alvey service ace and three kills by Stefanski. The Flyers closed teh set soon after with a kill by Mya Bajramovic (Cary, Ill./West Virginia Wesleyan). 

Set 2: Lewis 25, William Jewell 16
Januski began set number two with a kill for the Flyers, however the Cardinals responded in a snap with a three point run. Both teams then traded kills to make it a 4-2 set, what followed was a nine point run by Lewis. The collosal run by the Flyers saw a kill with three blocks by Ray, two blocks by Lauren Buxton (Springfield, Ill./Pleasant Plains) and a kill by Hickey. 

Down by a sizeable amount, the Cardinals attempted to chip away at their deficit, yet the Flyers continued to score to keep distance between the two teams. The Cardinals continued to get points on the boards with small runs broken up by kills from Ray, Stefanski and Januski.

With the second set at 17-13 Lewis turned up the intensity by going on four point run off of two kills by Alvey, a duel block from Ray and Buxton and a Cardinals attack error. Broken up by a William Jewell Kill, the Flyers went on a three point run to bring them within one. An anti-climatic service error ended the second set with an identical score to set number one. 

Set 3: Lewis 25, William Jewell 16
With their backs against a wall the William Jewell Cardinals came out of the break swinging in set number three, going up 3-0 in a snap. Alvey fired a kill across the court putting Lewis on the board which William Jewell equally responded with. The Flyers answered back with a five point run which began with two errors by the Cardinals and was followed by two kills from Ray and Kaczorowski, Kaczorowski contributed a serving ace as well. 

Both teams went back and forth until the third set was tied at 13 a piece. Lewis then went on another five point run thanks to three William Jewell errors and a kill by both Ray and Alvey. 

Once again the two squads traded points until William Jewell ended up with 16, then Lewis rounded out the set with a four point run. Off of a Kaczorowski set up, Stefanski fired one to the hardwood for a kill. Lily King (Channahon, IL) with a service ace and Emma O'Neil with a block moved Lewis to 24 points. Finally a William Jewell attacking error gave me an edge Lewis their fourth straight conference win. Lewis swept William Jewell with each set being a score of 25-16. 

UP NEXT
Lorelee Smith leads her Flyers to Saint Louis as they look to continue their spotless conference record this season as they take on USML on October 11 at 6 p.m. 

 

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