Lewis Women’s Volleyball Secures Third Straight GLVC Championship With Sweep of Missouri-St. Louis

WILLIAMSVILLE, Ill. – The No. 2 seed Lewis University women’s volleyball team swept No. 1 Missouri-St. Louis Sunday (Nov. 19) to win the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship. The Flyers hit an incredible .442 in the match and had 12 blocks to secure its third GLVC title in a row.

Lewis seniors Bella Ray (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic), Lauren Stenman (Maplewood, Minn./North St. Paul), and Juliana Van Loo (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs) earned GLVC All-Tournament Team honors.

TEAM RECORDS

No. 13 Lewis 26-6 | No. 2 Missouri-St. Louis 30-1

LEWIS LEADERS

Kills: Van Loo (8), Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg) (8), Ray (8)

Digs: Ally Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) (17), Schlechte (14)

Assists: Stenman (34)

Blocks: Emma O’Neill (Papillion, NE/Papillion La Vista South) (6), Ray (5), Stenman (5)

Aces: Hickey (3), Stenman (2)

SET BREAKDOWN

Set 1: Lewis 25, UMSL 20

It was 2-2 early, but UMSL went on a 7-0 run with four kills and two aces to take the lead. After a Lewis timeout, the Flyers went on a 13-4 charge with five kills and four blocks to snag the advantage.

Later, an 8-3 push for Lewis made it 23-17 Flyers. The Tritons took three of the next four points, but a service error secured the set for Lewis. The Flyers hit .414 in the opening set.

Set 2: Lewis 25, UMSL 20

Lewis started the second set hot, taking a 6-2 advantage after back-to-back aces by Hickey. After a timeout by UMSL, the Tritons took six of the next eight points, all on kills, to even the score at eight.

The teams traded runs and were tied up again at 13, when the Flyers used a 5-1 run to regain the lead. UMSL took three of the next four points, but that was as close as the set would get.

Avery Holubar (Bargersville, Ind./Center Grove) capped a 4-0 Lewis run with a service ace to make the score 23-17 for the Flyers. Schlechte finished off the set win with a kill, as the Lewis offense stayed hot, hitting .433 in the frame.

Set 3: Lewis 25, UMSL 19

The Flyers scored the first two points of set three, but the Tritons pushed back with a 6-2 run including five kills to take the early lead. Later, four consecutive UMSL attack errors headlined a 5-0 Lewis run to go ahead 10-7.

The Tritons got back to within one, but four straight Flyers kills made it a 16-11 advantage and prompted another UMSL timeout. The Tritons scored four of the next six points before the teams traded 4-0 runs, with Lewis calling a timeout to regroup…