No. 14 Lewis Advances To MIVA Semifinals With 3-2 Win Over IPFW
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – Sophomore (Downers
Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) Jay
Petty showed why he was an All-Midwestern Intercollegiate
Volleyball Association First Team selection by recording a
career-high 30 kills in No. 14 Lewis men’s volleyball’s
3-2 (25-20, 23-25, 25-22, 25-27, 17-15) victory over IPFW in the
MIVA Quarterfinals on Friday.
Petty hit .531 while adding six digs and five blocks. He had five
kills in the final set and scored Lewis’ final three points.
The last Flyer to record 30 kills in a match was Jared Dayton
against Loyola on March 13, 2007.
“When push came to shove, when we needed a go-to guy, Jay was
our man,” head coach Dan
Friend said. “The best time to step up is the
conference tournament and he did that tonight.”
The fifth set featured 11 ties and five lead changes. Lewis earned
their first match point at 14-13 following two consecutive blocks.
However a pair of IPFW kills gave the Mastodons match point at
15-14. That is when setter BJ
Boldog (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) went to Petty. Petty
responded with kills for points 15, 16 and 17. Sophomore Ian
Karbiener (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) gave Petty the chance
to put the match away by recording a dig on the final play.
Boldog finished with a career-high 62 assists while adding seven
digs and six blocks (two solo). He ran a Lewis offense which
out-hit the Mastodons .365 to .264.
“BJ is fighting an ankle injury but he pushed through,”
Friend said. “You saw what he is made up tonight.”
IPFW forced a fifth set after winning the fourth, however not
without a furious Flyer rally near the end. Trailing 24-20, the
Flyers scored four consecutive points to tie the score. Petty had
two kills and a block assist in the push. But IPFW won the set by
scoring three of the next four points.
“We weren’t short of fight but neither was IPFW,”
Friend said. “IPFW was playing their best volleyball of the
season but even when they had a match point we pushed through it to
put ourselves in position to win.”
Senior Brian
Muesenfechter (St. Louis, Mo./Christian Brothers) totaled
14 digs and 12 kills. Karbiener added 11 kills and six digs. The
Flyers out-blocked IPFW 16.5 to 10.5. A big reason for the
advantage was junior Aaron
Flick’s (North Ridgeville, Ohio/St. Edward) eight
blocks (one solo).
The match featured 42 ties and 15 lead changes. IPFW ends their
season 16-12. Lewis improves to 20-10.
The win advances Lewis to the MIVA Semifinals for a fourth
consecutive season. The fourth seeded Flyers will play at top
seeded Ohio State on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CT. The Flyers are the
only MIVA team to defeat the Buckeyes this season.
