Lewis Athletics
Luke Rinne
ROMEOVILLE – Lewis’ fifth ranked men’s volleyball team wrapped up its season opening three match homestand with a sweep of Lincoln Memorial on Saturday evening. The Flyers improve to 3-0 on the season while the Railsplitters drop to 1-2.
Lewis led by as many as five in the opening set but a 12-5 run from Lincoln Memorial gave the Railsplitters a 17-15 lead after a kill from Pedro Carvalho. The Flyers answered right back scoring six of the next eight points to regain the lead at 21-19 on a kill from Ryan Coenen (Franklin, WI/Franklin). LMU got back to within a point but Lewis closed the set scoring four of the final five points to win the opener 25-22.
The middle stanza was a back-and-forth affair with 16 ties and four lead changes. The Flyers pulled away late closing the set on an 8-5 run to take the frame 25-22. Lewis had 21 kills and hit .486 in the stanza while the Railsplitters had 14 kills and hit .462.
The Flyers got out to an early lead in set three, but Lincoln Memorial came back and eventually took a 17-16 lead after a service ace from Johansen Negron. The two sides traded the next five points and was tied at 19. Landon Krause (Appleton, Wis./Kimberly) put Lewis back in front with a kill at 20-19 and then TJ Murray (Barrington, Ill./Barrington HS) and Cole Brillhart (York, Pa./Northeastern) teamed up to block Justin Sharfenaker to extend the lead.
The Railsplitters got back-to-back kills from Jacob Titus to even the set at 21 but the Flyers had the answer with Krause scoring three of the final four points on kills including match point. Brillhart and Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS) had a key block at 23-21 to set up match point.
Lewis finished the match hitting .333 recording 45 kills against 13 errors in 96 chances. Krause finished with a match and career-high 18 kills while Mitchem added 12 kills and Coenen finished with nine kills. Kevin Kauling (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) dished out 34 assists and had a team-high six digs. Mitchem finished with five total blocks.
Lincoln Memorial hit .218 in the contest registering 36 kills against 17 errors in 87 attempts. Sharfenaker and Titus led the way with 11 and 10 kills respectively. Ryan Foy had 33 assists while Titus and Sharfenaker were tied for the team-high with five digs.
The Flyers are back in action on Friday (Jan. 29) as they travel to Loretto, Pa., to take on Saint Francis at 12:30 p.m. (CST).