Lewis University men's volleyball head coach Dan Friend announced the addition of Andrew Craine (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) to the 2011 roster.

Lewis University men's volleyball head coach Dan Friend announced the addition of Andrew Craine (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) to the 2011 roster.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) announced on Monday (July 12) that Lewis University men's basketball players Dalonte Burns (Chicago, Ill./Noble Street Charter) and Kevin Tonn (Wheeling, Ill./Wheaton North/Hope College) have been selected to the 2009-10 NABC Honors Court.

The Lewis University men’s volleyball team closed out the regular season with two huge wins against Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association opponent Grand Canyon on back-to-back nights to clinch the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. The Flyers finished with a 7-5 MIVA record and earned the right to host a first-round playoff game against Quincy.

On April 16, freshman Ian Karbiener continued his impressive first year posting 14 kills and 11 digs. Karbiener cranked out seven kills in the opening frame alone, as the Flyers cruised past Grand Canyon 30-28.

Karbiener was recognized for his instant impact on Apr. 22, as he was named the MIVA Freshman of the Year. Karbiener finished second on the team in kills (309), kills per set (3.43) and points per set (3.92). He led the team with 23 service aces.

Lewis used a seven-point run to polish off the Antelopes. Three blocks from when the Flyers’ headlined the run. Seniors Nathan Klaas and Craig Boller teamed up twice for blocks and Klaas also had a solo block. An intimidating Flyer defense also forced Grand Canyon into two attack errors.

Lewis leads the MIVA conference, averaging 3.42 blocks per game.

Karbiener and Klaas recorded the only two kills during the stretch.

The second set was the closest of the match, as the Antelopes climbed to within one point of the Flyers at 28-27 after scoring four straight points. Head coach Dan Friend asked for timeout and the team answered with a Karbiener kill out of the break. Klaas closed the set with a kill off of a pass from senior setter Mike Iandolo.

Grand Canyon was limited to a .079 attack rate in the third and final set of the match. Lewis forced eight Antelope errors on their way to a 30-26 third set victory.

Iandolo finished the night with 39 assists and eight digs.

Senior night was one to remember, as the Flyers swept Grand Canyon for a second consecutive night (30-15, 30-21, 30-24).

Grand Canyon had no answer for an amped-up Flyer team in the first set. They were able to tally only six kills in the opener and committed 11 attack errors as they were doubled on the scoreboard. All five Lewis seniors started the game for the Flyers. It was only fitting that Boller, Klaas, Iandolo and senior Andy Frontz each notched a kill early in the first frame Rikki Garma was the lone senior that did not record a kill–and for good reason—he is the staring libero. Garma recorded four digs in his final regular season game in Neil Carey Arena.

Iandolo and Frontz spearheaded the Flyer attack, dishing out 35 assists on the night. Boller was a force at the net, with eight kills and nine blocks and Klaas finished with seven kills and 12 digs.

Grand Canyon only held one lead past the fourth point in the entire match. Lewis improved to 18-9.

A win over Quincy on April 24 would advance the Flyers into a MIVA semifinal match on April 28. For the latest results visit lewisflyers.com.

On April 10, the No. 20 Lewis softball team continued play in style by sweeping Maryville in a home doubleheader (4-0, 4-0) behind the arms of pitchers Karissa Habel and Dianna Pickrum.

Pickrum earned her third complete game shutout of the season, allowing just two hits to improve her record on the season to 8-2. Habel also threw a complete game shutout while only surrendering four hits. Her record also moved to 8-2 on the season.

Michelle Vuckso drove in two runs in the first game to lead the Flyers offense in the first game. In the second game, Katie Healy had three hits and a RBI, while Vuckso, Kayla Smith and Kara Harmatys also drove in one run apiece.

Lewis then hosted Missouri-St. Louis in a doubleheader the next day. The Flyers were upset 5-3 in the first game, as Pickrum took the loss to drop to 8-3 on the year. Jayme Hefler was a catalyst offensively, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

In the second game, Healy hit a grand slam in the second inning to put Lewis up 7-0, and the Flyers never looked back as they went on to win 10-1 in five innings. Habel pitched all five innings to move to 9-2.

Lewis improved to No. 13 in the national rankings and continued their home stand with a doubleheader against UW-Parkside. The Rangers won the first game 9-6. Habel took the loss, giving up nine runs, four earned, in 4 2/3 innings of work.

The second game saw Lewis struggle defensively as they committed five errors in an 8-0, five-inning loss. Allison Hernandez took the loss, giving up six runs, three earned in 3 1/3 innings.

Fortunately for Lewis, they didn’t fret as they headed to Southern Indiana for a doubleheader on April 17. The Flyers won the first game 8-5 in eight innings behind some major offensive performances. Vuckso was 4-for-5 with two RBI’s, Stephanie Harmon went 4-for-6 with four RBI’s and Smith had two hits and six RBI’s, including what proved to be the game winning grand slam in the top of the eighth inning.

The Flyers completed the sweep with a 7-5 win in the second game. Vuckso went 2-for-2 with a run scored, while Harmon was 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Smith also had two RBIs.

Amy Christopher picked up her second win of the season, allowing three runs in five innings of work. Hernandez earned the save.

The Flyers did not have a lot of time to enjoy the sweep, as they traveled to Kentucky Wesleyan the next day. Lewis picked up right where they left off by sweeping the doubleheader 3-0, 7-1.

Habel threw a complete game shutout in the first game, putting her at 11-3 on the year. Harmon, Vuckso and Jayme Hefler each had two hits in the game.

Christopher picked up her third win of the season in the second game by allowing one run over five innings of work. Harmon went 3-for-4 with four RBIs and Vuckso went 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, which helped her earn GLVC Player of the Week honors for the period ending April 18.

The wins improved Lewis’ record to 25-9 overall and 15-5 in the GLVC.

Both the men’s and the women’s golf teams participated in two tournaments over the last two weeks. The men’s season and hopes of going to the NCAA’s fell short, and the women prepped for their own GLVC championship.

The men’s golf team started their week at the Great Lakes No. 3 regional tournament at the Purgatory Golf Club in Noblesville, Ind. The Flyers finished 14th overall with a final total of 614.

Head coach Skip Steffey was pleased with the performance of the men’s squad.

“The boys played well, but not well enough to make up the deficit they were behind with other teams there, so we were unable to make a run at the NCAA’s.”

Senior Paul Dagys improved on his first round score by two strokes to lead the team with a finishing score of 148, which was good enough for a tie for 17th overall at the tourney.

Junior Casey Pyne could not repeat his round one performance (72) and slid back to a tie for 30th with his total score of 151. Freshman Brandon White finished with a score of 156, which tied him for 60th overall and the third best finishing Flyer at the tourney. Wayne State University took home the title.

For their next tournament, the boys went to participate in the GLVC Championship in Columbus, Ind. This was the Flyers last chance to make a run at the NCAA’s, but their efforts just came up a little bit short. The Flyers shot a three round score of 914 to finish 7th in the tourney, only two shots behind Bellarmine in 6th place. The Flyers were led by two players who tied for 22nd overall. White and Dagys tied with a score of 228. White had Lewis’ low score of day two with a 74.

Coach Steffey was particularly pleased with one of his freshman performers.

“We played pretty well around our average score on the year and we had an opportunity to place 4th but didn’t take advantage,” Steffey said. “Brandon [White] played fantastic, shooting for his low score of the year with that impressive 74.”

Pyne and Junior Logan Watts tied for 27th overall with their total scores of 230. Although their chances of reaching the Super Regionals are gone, the team will still participate in their final event on April 26th in the American Family Classic. There is a chance however, that both Dagys and Pyne will be selected by the committee for the Super Regionals as individuals after their stellar play all year.

The women’s golf team also participated in two tournaments these past two weeks, starting with the Loyola Invitational in Evanston, Ill. Lewis was the only non-Division 1 team in the eight team tourney. They ended up finishing 6th with a team score of 690. They were led by freshman Nicole Tucker, who tied for 15th overall with her score of 165.

She was followed on the team by another freshman, Carly Shapiro. Shapiro fought back on day two to overshadow her first day 91 with an 82 to finish out the tourney. Her scores brought her up to a tie for 30th and a final score of 173. Third on the team was yet another freshman, Vanessa Phillips. She tied for 36th overall with her 175 effort. Western Illinois went on to win the tournament.

The lady Flyers’ next destination was back in Lockport to play in the Aviator Classic at the Prairie Bluff Golf Club. Williams shined once again as she led the team with a personal best of 74 on day two of the tournament which propelled her to the best individual score on the team (156). That put her in a tie for 7th place.

Coach Steffey loved the progress his team made at the Aviator Classic.

“The girls played much better, including their lowest score of the year. Hopefully these low scores will transfer over to when we compete in the GLVC championship.”

The Flyers finished 6th overall in the tourney with a final team score of 663. Freshman Liz Zimmer finished 28th overall, with a 168. She was followed by Tucker, who improved by eight strokes on day two to finish with a final combined score of 169. That finish tied for 29th overall. Northern Kentucky ended up winning the tournament.

The women will be competing in the GLVC championship on April 24-25 where coach Steffey is hoping they can finish in the top half of the field.

Coming off of two successful weekends against in-conference opponents, the Flyers were hoping for even more against Indianapolis.

Things started off well as the Flyers swept Indianapolis in the first doubleheader behind good pitching and timely hitting.

Game one had Steve Almanza on the mound, and he was strong all game. After giving up a solo shot in the first, he didn’t allow another run, going seven innings and picking up his fourth win of the season. The offense didn’t get going until the sixth. Michael Wido delivered an RBI double with two outs, and Brian Norwood followed with a single to score Wido and make it 2-1. That proved to be all they needed as Matt Frahm came on and pitched two scoreless innings for the save.

Game two was another pitching dual, and Joe Scumaci won. He pitched a complete game, giving up one run on five hits while striking out five. Scumaci is now 6-2 on the season.

After Indianapolis scored in the top of the fourth, the Flyers came right back with two in the bottom half. Scott Householder led off with his sixth homer of the year, and a Wido double led to another RBI single from Norwood to give them a 2-1 lead. That was all Scumaci needed to give the Flyers the win.

Day two didn’t go quite as well for the Flyers. After scoring only four runs on day one, day two showed that wouldn’t be enough.

In the third game of the series, Pat Lahey took the mound. He pitched six innings giving up three run and taking the loss. He is now 3-4 four on the season.

The lack of offense was the story for the Flyers in this one. Indianapolis starter Travis Capps dominated only giving up one run on three hits in six innings of work.

Householder finished with two hits, and Miguel Amesquita had one. The only run came in the sixth off of a sacrifice fly from Amesquita. The Flyers were only down one heading into the ninth, but a rough inning, which saw three unearned runs cross the plate, put it away. Indianapolis won the game 6-1.

In the series finale, the Flyers had their chance to win it. With the game tied at two, the Flyers got a run in the seventh on a sacrifice fly from Householder. Indianapolis came right back with one in the eighth, tying the game at three.

Now the ninth inning was a mess to say the least. Two errors led to nine runs split among three pitchers in the inning and put Lewis down 12-3. That would be the final.

Overall the Flyers played well in this series. If they could have a few defensive lapses back, a sweep was a good possibility.

The Flyers are now 24-22 and 13-11 in the GLVC. With 12 games left this season, every game will be big. Next up for Lewis baseball is a double-header against St. Francis (Ill.) on April 27.

Men of steel rackets; this is what the Lewis Flyers men’s tennis team should be called after finishing the season with an overall 15-5 record. The men’s tennis team seemed to be in a questionable position early in the season. In their first nine matches of the season they went 5-4.

After their opening nine-match stretch, they picked up their game drastically by winning 10 of their next 11 matches. And that one loss came after a six match-winning streak. They were defeated by Southern Indiana 8-1. Whatever struggles the team had in the beginning of the season they overcame with a strong vengeance, outscoring their opponents 72-16 in their last ten wins of the season.

Now that the regular season is over, the men’s red-hot tennis team has to make sure they can keep up this fired up hot streak. They are now entering the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship’s against No. 3 ranked West Missouri-St. Louis. They are scheduled to play UMSL on Friday, Apr. 23. It is the team’s second straight trip to the postseason.

The Flyers are probably feeling especially confident with star tennis athlete Uno Lapimaa. Lapimaa is on a 22-match winning streak, and has an overall record of 28-1. Tonis Irdoja is another player on the team who the Flyers seem to be able to rely on helping put a ‘W’ in their column. Irdoja is 8-2 in his last 10 and has a strong overall record of 20-8. In the GLVC, Lapimaa has a perfect 7-0 record, while Irdoja is 5-2.

In doubles competition, Irdoja and Lapimaa also sit on top with the best records on the team. Their record as doubles partners is 12-4, but is also 9-1 in their last 10.

They have more wins in doubles competition than any other pairs on the team, but aren’t the only strong duo on the team. Lapimaa and Lorenz Pestinger have an overall doubles record of 10-3, and are also 7-3 in their last 10 matches.

While the statistics show that our Lewis men’s tennis team is capable of capturing a GLVC Championship, everyone should wish these competitive and talented athletes the best of luck on their upcoming event.

Lewis University has its primary NCAA sports that students, family and friends like to cheer on to victory. Baseball, softball, basketball and volleyball are just a few of the 10 sports that Lewis offers. Now there seems to be a new bunch of athletes catching student attention.

Lewis University is seeing a rise in popularity amongst student-run sports, or club teams. Club teams are similar to the regular NCAA teams. Both teams wear the Flyers uniform, play other college teams, do long distance traveling, fundraisers and show school pride along with their athletic talent. These sports teams are started and led by Lewis students though. These aren’t just young adults who one day decided to sign up and try out for a sports team. These are the students who did all the paper work, held tryouts, found ways to raise money for their sport as well as organize the team. The reward–these students get to play the sport they put a ton of time, money and effort into getting started.

Rugby, volleyball and inline hockey are three recently formulated club team’s at Lewis. A few of the other schools that the Lewis club teams play include Depaul, the University of Chicago, Loyola, Northeastern, College of Dupage, Northern Illinois, Southern Illinois, the University of Illinois and Illinois State.

Out-of-state travel is on the rise as well, especially for the hockey team.

Jill Siegfried, the Director of Student Recreation and Wellness, has noticed an increase in the popularity of club sports for both current and incoming students.

“These teams have really been growing, running strong and getting a lot of attention. Not just from the current students here either, but from possible incoming freshman that are at the open house days as well.”

Siegfried has seen an interest in the hockey team from incoming students.

“A lot of the incoming freshman checking out the university are ice hockey players, so when they ask if we have an ice hockey team I tell them about the inline hockey team, and they seem to be very interested or even excited to come and play,” Siegfried said.

Hockey, volleyball and rugby are the club teams Lewis has that currently compete, but the number of Lewis club teams is still growing. Three more club teams may possibly be added to the list by as early as next year.

Ultimate Frisbee is one of the three clubs to be possibly added next. Ultimate Frisbee was a Lewis club in the past for almost two years until it had to be temporarily shut down. Club wrestling is another sport that will soon be added at Lewis University.

Siegfried said, “Wrestling is a popular sport that numerous students in the past talked about wanting to start. We have enough athletes to have a wrestling team. Right now our only problem is having a place for these athletes to practice at, which we are currently working on.”

Men’s soccer is the third club team being talked about adding to the university’s club list.

One topic Siegfried brought up is that Lewis is really happy with the increasing number of sports clubs being started at Lewis, but that the university is hoping to get some female athletic clubs started.

“Sports like volleyball, badminton, bowling and soccer are sports that are generally more popular with a female turnout that would be great to have club teams for,” Siegfried said.

Students at Lewis are showing that they don’t have to go to another university to play their favorite sport. These students have shown that they can go to a school as academically renowned as Lewis and can still compete in their favorite sport, even if it isn’t already here. This shows dedication and a great pride for education and athletics. The success of Lewis club sports such as hockey, rugby and volleyball show that the opportunities are available at Lewis. Students just have to be willing to put some time into getting it started. People can either sit back and watch the sport they love, or they can go out and play it.

If anyone knows a thing or two about winning NBA championships, it’s Bill Russell. One of the greatest basketball players of all time, Russell won 11 championships in 13 seasons with the Boston Celtics. He understands winning like Paris Hilton understands shopping.

Russell once wrote, “It’s much harder to keep a championship than to win one.” So will the Los Angeles Lakers be able to keep their championship? I don’t believe they’ll even make it to the Finals.

Legendary coach Pat Riley coined a term for something that defending champions can easily catch. He called it the “Disease of More” and the Lakers have it bad.

The disease is highlighted by Kobe refusing to give up shots because he can sniff Karl Malone’s all-time scoring record; Odom getting distracted because he got more money, and thinks he’s a huge star because he married a Kardashian; Gasol getting fed up with Kobe being a ball hog; Artest launching a reality show because he wanted more fame and Bynum and Farmar wanting more minutes and a bigger role.

No doubt the Lakers will make it to the Western Conference Finals even with the disease, but I can see the Mavericks or Suns shocking the Lakers.

First, I’ll start with the Mavericks. Throw Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki, Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and Shawn Marion out there and you have a veteran, tough minded group that won’t back down to the Lakers.

The other keys are they have solid free throw and three-point shooting, and they don’t turn the ball over a lot with Kidd handling the ball. Also, they have great team chemistry which can never be overlooked, and legitimate shot blocking and rebounding with Haywood and Eric Dampier playing in contract years. Off the bench, Jason Terry and J.J. Barea are capable of getting hot from three-point range at any time. Lastly, they have a proven star that can score in the clutch in Nowitzki.

Ok, the fact that Kidd couldn’t stop your grandmother from getting into the lane, and that Barea, who looks like someone that might show up at your local YMCA actually plays legitimate minutes, makes it a little less likely the Mavericks will beat the Lakers. But the Phoenix Suns on the other hand…

The Suns have a legitimate shot of beating the Lakers. Six months ago, I thought there would be a better chance of me writing an article about why Lindsay Lohan should be up for canonization, than the Suns having a chance of beating the Lakers to go to the Finals.

The Suns have the best team chemistry out of anybody in the league. Grant Hill said the Suns have better chemistry than any team he’s ever played for. Ever. And he’s been around the league more than Tiger Woods has with supermodels. Not to mention, he played for a national championship team at Duke.

Obviously, the chemistry alone can’t carry them past the mighty Lakers. They have Steve Nash. When Nash signed a three year extension with the Suns over the summer, I thought he was dumber than Forrest Gump. I thought the Suns were a sinking ship. He went against the grain of so many star players by not signing somewhere just to win a cheap championship before he retires. He stayed loyal and led his team; they followed and now they’re here.

At 36, Nash possibly had his most impressive season. His shooting guard, Jason Richardson, struggled for awhile. Their sixth man, Leandro Barbosa, missed half the year with injuries and his “star” power-forward, Amar’e Stoudemire, worried about being traded for three months. He led, and the Suns won 54 games in the regular season.

Nash put up 16.5 PPG, 11.0 APG, 51 percent FG, 43 percent 3FG, 94 percent FT, and transformed a fringe playoff team into a scary contender at age 36.

This season has capped the tenth top notch year in a row for him. He’s won two MVP’s, been selected to three first-team All NBAs and had seven all star appearances in the past ten years.

I thought his championship window had closed. He’s showed me this year that it’s more open than ever. I think he and the Suns will jump through.