MATCH STATS
- #9 Lewis Def. #14 Fort Wayne 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-18)
- #9 Lewis 15-8; #14 Fort Wayne 15-8
- Romeoville, Illinois (Neil Carey Arena)
- Box score
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The Lewis Flyers hosted the Fort Wayne Mastadons on Thursday night, and the Flyers pulled off the sweep in Neil Carey Arena. Defense was key in this win, as three Lewis players posted double-figure digs in Mitch Perinar (12), Michael Simmons (12), and Kyle Bugee (11).
Leading the Lewis offense was redshirt sophomore outside hitter, Ryan Coenen, with 15 kills on a .225 clip. TJ Murray also had an impressive offensive performance with 5 kills and zero errors on a .500 hitting percentage. Setter Matt Yoshimoto ran the offense with 32 assists and added seven digs.
Fort Wayne was led by Pelegrin Vargas (.069) and Colton Stone (.130) with eight and seven kills, respectively. The Mastadon offense was held to a .115 clip. Setter, Michael Keegan, delivered 24 assists and added 13 digs for a double-double.
The Flyers will return to play on Saturday night where they will host Ball State in their final home regular season match. The Mastadons will also play again on Saturday, traveling to Chicago where they will face Loyola.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy of Lewis Athletics
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Strong finishes in each set helped the No. 10 Lewis men’s volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-18) win over No. 15 Fort Wayne Thursday (March 22) in a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association match at Neil Carey Arena.
After Fort Wayne scored the first point of the opening set, Lewis responded with four straight to take a 4-1 lead. The Flyers remained in the lead until three straight points by the Mastodons tied the game at 12. The two teams traded points for much of the rest of the first set until the Flyers scored two straight points to take a 24-22 lead behind a pair of blocks by Matt Yoshimoto (Ventura, CA/Adolfo Camarillo) and Tyler Mitchem (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook), with Ryan Coenen(Franklin, WI/Franklin) also contributing on the second one. Following a Fort Wayne point, Coenen finished the set with a kill and a 25-23 win.
Lewis hit .243 for the set (12 kills, three errors, 37 attacks), while Fort Wayne hit .147 (12-7-34). Coenen had five kills in the set, while Yoshimoto totaled nine assists.
The first multi-point lead in the second set didn’t come until nearly midway through the match when the Mastodons took an 11-9 lead. The Flyers came back to tie the match at 13 after back-to-back kills by Coenen. After a Fort Wayne point, Lewis scored three straight points, thanks to a kill by Kyle Bugee (Los Altos, CA/Homestead) and a block by TJ Murray (Barrington, IL/Barrington). But the Mastodons came back with five straight points to take a 19-16 lead. Lewis came right back with five straight points to take a 21-19 lead as Coenen, Mitch Perinar(Channahon, IL/Minooka) and Murray all had kills and Yoshimoto finished the run with an ace. Two more Coenen kills gave the Flyers a 24-21 advantage. After a Mastodon point, they committed a service error to end the set.
Coenen tallied four more kills in the second set and Yoshimoto had nine more assists. The Flyers limited IPFW to .130 hitting through two sets.
After a back-and-forth start to the third set, Lewis took control with a 6-1 run to take a 14-9 lead midway through the set, led by a pair of kills by Murray. Fort Wayne got to within two at 16-14 and again at 18-16, but the Flyers would pull away from there, scoring five of the final six points of the match.
Coenen finished the match with 15 kills, while Bugee added eight. Yoshimoto dished out 32 assists and had four aces. Michael Simmons (Aurora, IL/Waubonsie Valley) and Perinar had 12 digs each, while Bugee added 11. Murray had five block assists. The Flyers held the Mastodons to a .115 hitting percentage (28-17-96), while the Flyers hit .219 (39-16-105).
The win moves the Flyers to 15-8 overall and 6-3 in the MIVA, while Fort Wayne falls to 15-8, 3-6.
The final home regular season game for the Flyers is Saturday night at 7 p.m. against No. 11 Ball State.
Courtesy of Fort Wayne Athletics
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Despite Michael Keegan‘s second straight double-double, No. 15 Fort Wayne fell to No. 10 Lewis 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-18) in Neil Carey Arena on Thursday (March 22).
Lewis jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead to start the match, and it took until 12-12 for the Mastodons to even the score. Colton Stone had back-to-back aces, which were two of the four team aces for Fort Wane. Lewis held the lead for the rest of the set following those aces. Keegan had seven of his digs in the opening frame. Stone had four of his seven kills in the opening set.
Fort Wayne led by as many as three in the second set after a five-point run at 19-16, capped off by a block from Keegan and Tomas Gago. The Flyers then went on a five-point run that gave them the lead that they would hold. Pelegrin Vargas had four of his eight kills in set two. In the final set, Lewis had several small runs that extended the lead beyond the Mastodons’ reach. Fort Wayne had four team blocks in both of the last two sets.
Keegan finished with 24 assists and 13 digs for his eighth double-double of the season and 16th of his career. Gago had six blocks, two of which were solo. Richie Diedrich hit .308 for the night with six kills. Kolbie Knorr finished with 10 digs. Lewis’ Ryan Coenen had 15 kills to lead all attackers.
The Mastodons falls to 15-8, 3-6 MIVA, while Lewis improves to 15-8, 6-3 MIVA. The ‘Dons will play No. 6 Loyola on Saturday (March 24) in Chicago at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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