The No. 15 Lewis University Men’s Volleyball Team (7-2) opened up Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association play with three straight matches against conference challengers, going 2-1 during the stretch. Considering the opening two contests were on the road, Head Coach Dan Friend and the Flyers are pleased with the results.
“Anytime you get a road conference win, I don’t care if it’s a team at the bottom of the conference or a team at the top, it’s great,” Friend said.
Lewis manhandled Quincy in a 3-0 sweep (30-18, 30-27, 30-28) on Feb. 2 in Quincy, Ill. Freshman Ian Karbiener led all players with 14 kills and came up one dig short of a double-double. Lewis limited the Hawks to a meager .114 hitting percentage.
The team’s road-match against IPFW on Feb. 5 wasn’t quite as easy, but nonetheless, they came away with the result they were looking for.
Trailing the match 2-sets-1, and down 12-11 in the fourth frame, the Flyers rallied off five straight points. A kill from redshirts sophomore Aaron Flick capped off the five-point swing. Flick put the Flyers two points away from capturing the set with a block, before two attack errors from IPFW knotted the match.
Both teams traded points early in the fifth set tiebreaker before a huge block shifted all of the momentum in the Flyers favor. Flick and senior Mike Iandolo combined for the block, putting Lewis up 4-3. From this point on, the Flyers never surrendered the lead. Iandolo set-up senior Nathan Klaas for a kill, stretching the Lewis lead to five, their biggest of the set. IPFW would not go quietly, however, responding with three straight points, forcing a Flyer timeout. Redshirts sophomore Matt Gallik ended IPFW’s spurt with a crucial kill. On match point, Klaas ensured the comeback with a kill, his 15th of the match, for the 15-13 fifth set win.
There was no sugarcoating the importance of a win under these circumstances for Coach Friend.
“I think it was huge,” Friend said. “The fact that we were down 2-1 and battled back; it’s been a while since we’ve done that. The fact that we did that in an opposing gym and were able to push through and get that win in five was great. It’s a testament to this team and what I think we are capable of down the road.”
Serving errors plagued the Flyers in their opening MIVA contest at home against No. 13 Ohio State. Even though they out-hit (.292-to.270) and out-blocked (14.5-to7) the Buckeyes, 24 service errors were simply too much to overcome as they fell to the Buckeyes in four sets (30-20, 30-24, 24-30, 30-28).
“I knew that at times our passing could have been an issue, because Ohio State is a good serving team,” Friend said. “We got into the mentality that we needed to match how they were serving and that’s not our ‘M.O.’ We just need to be good about putting the ball on the team in different spots and let our blockers do some work at the net. If we miss about 6-8 less serves, I think we put ourselves in a position to win that match even with some of our passing breakdowns. “
The only other Flyer defeat came against No. 5 Penn State (30-26, 28-30, 30-25, 30-20) on Jan. 29. Lewis was unable to slow down the Nittany Lion attack, as they finished the match with a stifling .342 hitting percentage.
Still, the Flyers are five games above .500 and sit comfortably in third place in the MIVA (2-1) behind Loyola Chicago and Ohio State.
“I’m happy that with all of the new guys, we have been able to take care of the teams that we should have,” Friend said. “The fact that we have gone forward with that is great. With any team, it takes a few of those losses [against elite teams] to learn and get better.”
But don’t mistake these words as a “rebuilding” year. Friend and the Flyers are certainly equipped with an arsenal capable of positioning them atop the conference.
“If we can continue to make our offense better and cut down on some serving errors, I think we put ourselves in that situation to win a MIVA championship,” Friend said. “I definitely believe we have the talent on the court with our young guys and returning guys.”
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