Season Ends For Lewis In Semifinals At Loyola

CHICAGO – The Lewis men’s volleyball season came to a close on Wednesday evening in a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Semifinal 3-0 (30-26, 30-23, 30-18) loss at Loyola. Freshman Ian Karbiener (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) led Lewis with 14 kills.

The first set was the closest of the three. In the set, the Flyers forced the Ramblers to call for time after an ace by Karbiener gave Lewis a 10-7 lead. Three consecutive Ramblers points cut the Lewis lead to 20-19 and forced the Flyers to take a timeout. Out of the break, the Flyers fed the ball to Karbiener who responded with a kill. A Loyola kill made it 21-20, but another Karbiener kill brought the Lewis advantage back to two. However back came the Ramblers, taking the lead at 24-23 and causing Lewis to take their final timeout. The teams traded points until 26-all when Loyola scored the final four points to take the set. Lewis was plagued by eight service errors in the frame.

“We put ourselves in position to change the momentum in the first set and we just couldn’t finish,” head coach Dan Friend said. “I think that was the biggest key in the match.”

The Ramblers took their momentum in to the second set, grabbing a quick 8-3 advantage. The Ramblers took their largest lead of the set at 20-12 when Lewis countered with a three consecutive points. Loyola asked for time and came out of the break with a kill. Loyola led the rest of the way.

Loyola continued their consistent play in the third, opening a 14-8 advantage and never looking back.

The Flyers were hurt by 20 service errors. While Loyola had 20 service errors of their own, the Ramblers compensated by out-hitting Lewis .409 to .176.

“We didn’t really do a good job of keeping pressure on them from the service line,” Friend said.

For the third time this season Lewis struggled to put their league-leading block defense together against the Ramblers, as Lewis had just five blocks in the match.

Senior Nathan Klaas (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg) totaled eight kills. Senior Rikki Garma (Lihue, Hawaii/Ost) totaled eight digs, and passed well for most of the night until two receiving errors in the third set.

The victory advances Loyola (20-5) to the MIVA Championship on Saturday agains Ohio State. The Flyers’ season ends at 19-10.