Lewis Men’s Volleyball Drops Home Match to McKendree in Five Sets

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…