Men's volleyball hits a 3-1 win over George Mason

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Back-to-back scoring: Senior Aaron Flick and sophomore BJ Boldog (shown here) combined for blocks on back-to-back points in the run leading Lewis to a win in the third set. | Photo by Steve Woltmann

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - No. 7 Lewis men's volleyball extended their winning streak to five by defeating George Mason 3-1 (25-17, 22-25, 25-19, 25-18) in a non-conference match on Saturday (Jan. 28) night in Neil Carey Arena. Not only did the Flyers walk away with a win, they also played for a good cause as the game was Prostate Cancer Awareness Night. Lewis donated a dollar from every ticket sold to ZERO - The Project to End Prostate Cancer.

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The two teams rallied back and forth for the first ten points in the opening frame, with a total of six ties within the set. The Flyers took their biggest lead at 22-15 and only allowed the Patriots two more points in the set. A kill by Aaron Flick (North Ridgeville, Ohio/ St. Edward) won Lewis the frame at 25-17. Senior Jay Petty (Downers Grove, Ill. Downers Grove North) started the match strong with six kills on seven attempts, opening the match with a .714 hitting percentage.

The Patriots jumped out to an 11-7 lead during the second set. The Flyers, showing why they are ranked No. 7 in the nation, rallied their way back into the lead at 16-15. George Mason would force Lewis into a timeout at 23-20. The Patriots scored 11 of their 25 points in the frame off Lewis serving errors.

The wintery weather proved to not affect Orlando, Fla. native Ian Karbiener (Orlando, Fla./Olympia) as he notched seven of his 12 kills during the third set. Lewis would not let the Patriots back into the set, winning the frame at 25-19. The Flyers recorded a .500 hitting percentage, allowing only three hitting errors during the set.

"In the third game we started to settle down and let the defense work a bit," Lewis head coach Dan Friend said.

Lewis never trailed in the fourth set and won the match on a Jay Petty kill.

Jay Petty led the Flyers with 20 kills, finishing with a .593 hitting percentage and notching six digs. Freshman Greg Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) had 11 kills. Sophomore setter BJ Boldog (Palatine, Ill./Palatine) ran a Lewis offense which hit .404 for the match. Boldog recorded 51 assists on Lewis' 58 kills.

"BJ does a fantastic job and is aware of what is going on on the other side," Friend said. "We did a fantastic job of passing and putting balls up on defense to get into transition to score."

Greg Petty and Boldog each recorded three aces. Lewis finished with 10 aces to the Patriots' two.

The Flyers improve to 6-2, while the Patriots fall to 3-4. Lewis opens Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association play on Friday (Feb. 3) with a 7 p.m. ET match at IPFW.

For the full box score of the match, click here.

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