Highland Heights, Ky. - The No. 15 Lewis University men's volleyball team used a .444 hitting percentage in the fifth set to defeat MIVA newcomer Northern Kentucky, 3-2, Thursday night at Regents Hall.

With the win, the Flyers improved to 14-9 (6-4 MIVA) while the Norse shifted to 3-13 (0-9 MIVA).

IMPACT PLAYERS
Daniel Haber (Remsenburg, NY/Westhampton Beach) and Cameron Hoying (Columbus, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales) led Lewis with 21 kills each, with Hoying amassing four aces as well, while Deyan Todorov (Sofia, Bulgaria/51st Secondary) chipped in 14 kills of his own. Diego Estrada (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Adianez) dished out 52 assists in the five set thriller while Nico Paula (Tampa, Fla./Berkeley Preparatory School) dug 14 balls, one short of his season-high. At the net, Shawn Baggs Jr. (Gilbert, Ariz./Casteel HS) tallied five total blocks. As a team, the Flyers ended the evening with a .328 (60-20-131) hitting percentage compared to .153 (47-27-131) for NKU.

Griffin Wheatly led all Norse in kills with 12 while Juanmarco Diaz and Will McEleven each had 11 digs in the loss. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
Tied 2-2 after splitting the first four sets, the Flyers jumped ahead to an early 4-1 lead in the fifth set thanks to a pair of kills from Hoying and Todorov. After trading the next handful of scores, Lewis broke away as a 5-2 run, paced by kills from Hoying and Haber, pushed Lewis to within four of winning the match, 11-6. NKU scored the next two points to cut the Lewis lead to three, but the Flyers ended the match by rattling off the final four points, capped by a Norse attack error to win the final frame, 15-8 and match, 3-2. In the final frame, Lewis limited NKU to a -.167 (6-9-18) hitting percentage.

Earlier in the match tied 1-1, the Flyers took flight in set three as a Hoying kill midway through the third frame spurned a 7-3 run that broke a 9-9 deadlock to push Lewis ahead, 16-12. NKU and Lewis traded the next handful of scores, but the Flyers never relinquished their lead as they ended the frame scoring four of the final five points of the set to win 25-18 and take a 2-1 match lead. 

Despite an early 9-5 lead, the Norse chipped away at the Flyers lead throughout the stanza as an untimely service error from the Flyers sparked a 7-1 run that propelled the hosts into the lead, 20-16. The Flyers attempted a late comeback, using a 5-2 spurt that trimmed the NKU lead down to one, 23-22. Still, the Norse ended the set with back-to-back scores to win, 25-22 but inadvertently set up the Flyers for their fifth set win. 

MATCH NOTES

• Lewis is 2-0 against the Norse all-time.
• The Flyers 63 kills are a new team season-high and the most since a 71 kill outing against Mount Olive on Jan. 24, 2025
• Haber and Hoying are the first Lewis duo with 20-or-more kills apiece since Max Roquet (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) and Oguzhan Oguz (Bursa, Turkey/Ocean) each had 21 kills against McKendree on Feb. 8, 2025.
• Lewis is now 14-1 this year when recording more kills than its opponent
• Piotr Wymoczyl (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove HS) tied his career-high in aces with two

UP NEXT
The Flyers will head to Columbus, Ohio to face No. 18 Ohio State on Saturday at 2 p.m.

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For the latest news, scores, and updates on Lewis men's volleyball, visit LewisFlyers.com and follow the Flyers on social media at @Lewismensvb on Instagram and @LewisMVBall on X.