Lewis Women’s Volleyball Team Drops Match on Halloween

ROMEOVILLE, Ill — The Lewis University women’s volleyball team lost a hard fought battle against Flagler on Thursday, after four close sets.

TEAM RECORDS

Flagler 10-9 | Lewis 15-8

                    

LEWIS LEADERS vs. Flagler

Kills:  Hannah Alvey (Mapleton, Ill./Illinois Central College) (12), Bella Ray (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet Catholic) (12)

Digs: Ally Hickey (Granger, Ind./Penn) (22), Natalie Stefanski (Plainfield, Ill./Joliet West) (22)

Assists: Lily King (Channahon, IL) (26)

Aces: Stefanski (3)

Blocks: Ray (6)

SET BREAKDOWN vs. Flagler

Set 1: Flagler 27, Lewis 25

Flagler started Thursday night’s game with a long battled two kills giving them an early lead. Lewis would respond with two points of their own off of kills by Lauren Buxton (Springfield, Ill./Pleasant Plains) and Alvey. Both teams continued to battle as Flagler began to from a small lead early in the first set. 

The Flyers continued to fight back as they retook the lead off of service and attacking errors by the Saints. The set continued to remain close as both squads entered double digits, but Lewis held a narrow lead which they saught to expand. Lewis put up a four point run thanks to kills by Stefanski, Alvey and Mallory Januski (Bourbonnais, Ill./Valparaiso) with a service ace from Stefanski as well. 

Lewis was the first team to the 20 point mark in the first set, but the Saints put up a barrage of points to eventually take back the lead. A strong back and forth battle between Lewis and Flagler saw the set tied at 25, the Saints powered through and put two points on the board, for a first set win.

Set 2: Lewis 25, Flagler 18

Much like the first, the second set was an evenly matched brawl between the two teams. Flagler got out to an early start which was met by Saints service error. Lewis achieved the first extended run of the set with a five point run off of kills by Buxton, Ray, and Alvey with a Hickey service ace and a Alvey and Ray Combined Block.

Appropriately, this match which took place on Halloween wasn’t without its spooky problems. With the score tied at 17, it was determined the Saints illegally subbed in a player earlier in the set. This resulted in a penalty point to Lewis and and additional point for the one point Flagler served under. This made the match 18-15 instead, and both teams returned to the floor. 

Lewis quickly got back to work to finish off the set, a kill by Buxton moved…