No. 9 Lewis Wins 3-2 At No. 13 Hawaii

HONOLULU -  Thanks to advantages in hitting percentage (.339-to-.155), digs (42-to-31) and blocks (13.5-to-10.5) No. 9 Lewis men’s volleyball defeated No. 13 Hawaii 3-2 (25-21, 25-11, 16-25, 23-25, 15-11) on the Warriors’ home court on Friday (Jan. 13) evening at the Outrigger Invitational in Honolulu.
 
Junior Jay Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) led the Flyers during the first set by hitting .889 with eight kills and no errors in the frame. Even with Petty’s offensive performance Lewis would trade points with Hawaii the entire set until freshman Geoff Powell (Claremont, Calif./Claremont) recorded a key kill at 21-18 to push the momentum to the Lewis side. Lewis would never trail again and take the set 25-21.
 
The Flyers quickly jumped out to an 11-6 lead over Hawaii during the second set. Lewis dominated the stanza, out-hitting Hawaii .524 to -.192. Sophomore Yiwei Zhou (Nanjing, China/Najing No. 1) came off the bench to record a kill and three blocks during the frame.
 
A 10-minute break seemed to help the Warriors as Hawaii took control of the third set from the beginning and never allowed Lewis to gain momentum or a lead.
 
Hawaii held leads of 5-1 and 12-9 in the fourth before four consecutive Lewis points gave the Flyers a short lived 13-12 advantage. After Lewis advanced within one at 21-20, the two clubs traded points the rest of the way with Hawaii taking the set 25-23.
 
Hawaii took their only lead of the fifth set at 2-1 as a three-point burst put Lewis up for good at 4-2. Lewis grabbed their biggest lead of the fifth at 12-8. A block by junior Ian Karbiener (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) and senior Aaron Flick (North Ridgeville, Ohio/St. Edward) on Lewis’ first match point gave the Flyers the match and Lewis’ first win at the Outrigger since 2004.
 
Petty led the Flyers with a match-high 22 kills and eight digs. Followed by Karbiener with 11 kills and seven block assists. Sophomore BJ Boldog (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) totaled 51 assists as well as two block assists. Junior Eric Varney (Oak Park, Calif./Oak Park/Moorpark CC) came off the bench to lead Lewis with nine digs.
 
The Flyers improve to 2-2. Hawaii falls to 2-2. Lewis closes out the invitational on Saturday evening against Springfield. First serve is set for 4 p.m HT/8 p.m CT.