ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The No. 14 Lewis University men's volleyball team lost, 3-2, against No. 20 McKendree Thursday (March 14) at Neil Carey Arena.

TEAM RECORDS
No. 20 McKendree 13-6 (7-3 MIVA) | No. 14 Lewis 11-11 (4-5 MIVA)

LEWIS LEADERS
Kills: Daniel Haber (Remsenburg, NY/Westhampton Beach) (20), Max Roquet (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) (19), Syver Drolsum (Vikersund, Norway/Toppvolley Norge) (7), Shawn Baggs (Gilbert, Ariz./Casteel HS) (7)
Digs: Nico Paula (Tampa, Fla./Berkeley Preparatory School) (11), Tyler Morgan (Dike, Iowa/Dike-New Hartford) (9), Haber (7)
Assists: Morgan (52)
Blocks: Baggs (4), Morgan (3), Roquet (3)
Aces: Nathan DeGraaf (Cranberry Township, Penn./Seneca Valley HS) (2)

SET BREAKDOWN
Set 1: Lewis 25, McKendree 21
Lewis took the first two points of the match on kills from Baggs and Roquet. The Flyers later pushed the lead to 8-5 with kills by Drolsum and Haber.

McKendree made back-to-back errors that brought Lewis' lead to 11-7, but then the Bearcats charged back. McKendree was able to take a 17-16 lead with a 10-5 run.

The Bearcats led, 21-19, before the Flyers went on a 6-0 run to win the set. During the run, Drolsum had two kills, Roquet earned three kills and Haber finished the set with a service ace.

Set 2: McKendree 25, Lewis 18
McKendree scored the first two points of set two. Lewis later took a 5-4 lead off of a 4-1 run featuring two kills and an ace from Baggs.

An ace by Piotr Wymoczyl (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove HS) later put the Flyers ahead 9-8. The Bearcats used a 4-1 run to go back ahead, 13-11.

Lewis was able to tie the score at 14 after kills by Roquet and Haber, and things went back-and-forth from there until it was 17-all. McKendree then went on a 6-0 charge to go ahead 23-17, and finished the set on an error by the Flyers.

Set 3: Lewis 25, McKendree 23
Set three stayed tight early, with the Bearcats using a 3-0 run to take a 7-6 lead. Both sides traded points from that point until Lewis had a 4-0 push including back-to-back ball handling errors on McKendree, as it struggled to handle Morgan's serves, to gain a 12-9 advantage.

Later, another 4-0 Flyer run made with an ace by DeGraaf made it 18-13. Neither team could gain momentum from that point until the score was 24-19 in favor of Lewis.

The Bearcats then went on a 4-0 run with the Flyers unable to close out the set until Roquet earned a kill to stop the skid and put Lewis ahead two sets to one.

Set 4: McKendree 25, Lewis 22
The Flyers charged ahead 7-2 early in set four with four kills from Haber looking to close out the match. Later, Lewis used a 5-0 run featuring a kill and block assist by Baggs, and capped off by an ace from DeGraaf, to bring the lead to 14-6 and prompt McKendree to spend a timeout.

After the timeout, the Bearcats went on a 6-0 run including four attack errors by the Flyers to cut the deficit to 14-12. Later, a 4-0 push by McKendree gave it a 19-17 lead and forced Lewis to take a timeout.

The Flyers got a point back, but the Bearcats then scored three more in a row to make it 22-18. Back-to-back McKendree errors got Lewis back in it, but the Flyers had an attack error of its own to finish the set.

Set 5: McKendree 15, Lewis 11
Both sides traded 2-0 runs early, with the Bearcats taking a 4-2 lead. Later, a 3-0 Lewis run tied the score at nine after a block assist and kill by Roquet.

McKendree had the answer, though, going on a 5-1 charge to reach match point at 14-10. After the Flyers took the next point, a service error ended the match in favor of the Bearcats.

UP NEXT
Lewis men's volleyball hosts Quincy Saturday (March 16) at 4 p.m. CT for Alumni Night at Neil Carey Arena.