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HONOLULU – Four freshmen started in No. 9 Lewis men's volleyball's 25-20, 25-18, 27-25 victory over Springfield at the Outrigger Invitational on Saturday (Jan. 14) evening.
 
The win improves Lewis to 2-1 at the Outrigger and 3-2 overall.
 
“We talked about this trip being the first sprint in the long marathon of a season and I think the guys did a nice job of finishing on a solid note,” head coach Dan Friend said. “We got a feel for a lot of things on this trip and we have a lot we can use to move forward.”
 
Freshman Greg Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) hit .619 with a match-high 15 kills. Freshman Geoff Powell (Claremont, Calif./Claremont) (Claremont, Calif./Claremont) added 11 kills and two aces. Sophomore Yiwei Zhou (Nanjing, China/Nanjing No. 1) (Nanjing, China/Nanjing No. 1) notched six kills on eight attempts with no errors. Freshman setter Eric Butch (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) had 33 assists and guided the Lewis offense to a .359 attack percentage.
 
Lewis out-hit the Pride in sets one (.320 to .143) and two (.240 to -.130). The third set was the closest of the three, featuring 17 ties and four lead changes. A fourth set looked to be imminent when the Pride earned set point at 24-23. Back-to-back kills by Powell gave Lewis match point at 25-24. The Pride tied it up before a Springfield service error and a Lewis double-block ended the match.
 
“We were able to play key reserves today and they stepped up,” Friend said. “(Eric) Butch, Yiwei (Zhou) and Eric (Fitterer) all played their first full collegiate match and we were able to rest Jay, Ian, BJ, Gallik.
 
Even though Springfield pushed back we were able to finish them off in the end.”
 
The Pride fall to 0-3.
 
Lewis returns to the mainland for the 2012 home opener against No. 7 Penn State on Saturday (Jan. 21) at 7 p.m.