East Peoria, Ill. - The No. 3 Lewis University women's volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 deficit to earn its 10th Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship with the 22-25, 25-27, 25-19, 25-19, 15-8 win over Rockhurst University at the EastSide Centre on Sunday (Nov. 19).

The championship is the fifth under Lewis head women's volleyball coach Lorelee Smith and the Flyers' first since 2015.

The win also secures Lewis' 12th-straight NCAA Tournament berth, which is the longest streak for any volleyball team in the Midwest Region and the longest streak of consecutive NCAA berths for any Lewis program in department history.

"This was an amazing match," Smith said. "We had to fight and work so hard for every single point because Rockhurst played relentless defense.

"This year's team has proven to themselves exactly how deep they can dig and we showed that today," Smith continued. "From 1 to 43, I'm so very proud of them."

Lewis' 11th straight victory helps them improve to 31-2 on the campaign. Rockhurst falls to 28-7 on the campaign. The NCAA Tournament pairings will be announced on Monday (Nov. 20) and can be found at NCAA.com.

Lewis senior middle hitter Aly Schneider (Granger, Ind./Penn) turned in a season-high in both kills (20) and blocks (1 solo, 7 block assists) against Rockhurst. Schneider hit .432 (20 kills, 4 errors, 37 attacks).

Flyer redshirt seniors Bailey Sparkman (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell), Maddie Seliga (St. Louis, Mo./Nerinx Hall) and redshirt junior Abby Becker (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Menomonee Falls) each contributed double-doubles in the Lewis victory.

Sparkman had 13 kills and 16 digs, while Seliga had 12 kills and 13 digs. Becker dished out a match-high 57 assists and had 12 digs.

Lewis junior outside hitter Elizabeth Hyland (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) had 12 kills, eight digs and four block assists, while sophomore libero Ronni Katarzynski (Winfield, Ill./West Chicago) pitched in a match-high 27 digs.

Lewis sophomore middle hitter Caroline Stefanon (Orland Park, Ill./Carl Sandburg) had a match-high 10 blocks (1 solo), as the Flyers had an 18-3 advantage in blocks.

Lewis hit .243 (68-22-189) for the match, while Rockhurst registered a hitting percentage of .165 (61-30-188).