Lewis Women’s Volleyball Sweeps Southwest Baptist, Opens GLVC Play 2-0

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. — The Lewis University women’s volleyball team swept Southwest Baptist at home Saturday, capping off a 2-0 opening weekend of Great Lakes Valley Conference play at Neil Carey Arena. TEAM RECORDSNo. 20 Lewis (9-4, 2-0 GLVC) | Southwest Baptist (7-7, 0-2 GLVC)                   LEWIS LEADERSKills: Megan Schlechte (Strasburg, Ill./Stewardson-Strasburg) (12)Digs: Ally Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) (11)Assists: Lauren Stenman (Maplewood, Minn./North St. Paul) (27)Blocks: Bella Ray (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic) (3)Aces: Schlechte (3) SET BREAKDOWNSet 1: Lewis 25, SBU 13The match opened with back-and-forth action until the score was 5-5. Then, Lewis took four of the next five points to grab the advantage. After Southwest Baptist scored a point, the Flyers then went on a 7-0 burst to make it 16-7. Lewis later took seven of eight points to build the lead all the way up to 24-11. The Flyers secured the opening set on an attack error by SBU. Lewis had a .367-.086 advantage in hitting percentage and earned three aces in the first set. Set 2: Lewis 25, SBU 18An early 3-0 run gave the Bearcats a 5-2 advantage in the second set, but the Flyers responded by scoring four straight points. A 3-0 run for Lewis shortly after gave it a 10-7 lead. Neither side was able to gain much advantage in the middle of the set, with the Flyers maintaining a slim lead until the score stood 17-15 Lewis. A 3-0 run by the Flyers then brought the lead to five points. Lewis closed out the set by taking four of the last five points, finishing the frame with a kill by Stenman. The Flyers hit .412 in the set. Set 3: Lewis 25, SBU 18The third set got underway with back-and-forth action, with ties at one, two, and three points. Lewis then secured four of the next five points to earn a 7-4 advantage. Southwest Baptist rallied, though, surging to an 11-10 set lead and not letting the Flyers gain any momentum as the sides went toe-to-toe until it was 14-13 in favor of the Bearcats. At that point, though, Lewis took off once again with five consecutive points and eight out of nine to gain a 21-15 lead. The Flyers finished the match with three consecutive kills, as Juliana Van Loo (Burbank, Calif./John Burroughs) earned the kill for match point. UP NEXTLewis women’s volleyball heads to Liberty, Mo. to face off with William Jewell next Friday (Sept. 29) at 6 p.m. CT.