Jan. 17, 2004

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - The Lewis University men's volleyball team dropped its third straight match and second in as many nights with a five-game defeat to No. 7 Penn State. The Flyers (1-3), who are ranked No. 4 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, lost 31-29, 19-30, 26-30, 37-35, 11-15.

In the two games Lewis won, the team overcame late deficits to overtake the Nittany Lions (2-2) and pull out the game. Game 1 saw Lewis trailing 29-27 before a Penn State service error and a block from Lewis' Greg Pochopien and Jon Bergmann knotted the game at 29-all. Jeff Soler followed with an ace for a 30-29 lead. Game 1 ended on a bad set from Penn State that fell to the floor.

The Nittany Lions dominated game 2, hitting .500 and holding Lewis to .097.

Game 3 was tight until a five-point Penn State run broke a 16-all tie and gave the them a 21-16 lead. The cushion was enough to carry them the rest of the game.

The match appeared headed for a close with Penn State leading 29-26, but Lewis displayed the resiliency that it is becoming known for to tie the game at 29-all. The Flyers closed the gap on a Soler kill, a block from Pochopien and Soler and a block from Pochopien and Sisk, respectively.

The Flyers staved off three match points before earning their first game point at 33-32. Penn State's Keith Kowal re-tied the game at 33-all with a kill. At 35-35, Soler had a kill and PSU's Kevin Wentzel followed with an error that tied the match at two games apiece.

Game 5 was relatively anticlimactic as Penn State jumped out to a 10-5 lead and coasted to the victory.

Soler had a match-high 20 kills and five digs and three blocks. Enrique Escalante added 16 kills, five blocks and hit .393, while Pochopien had eight kills and a team-best six blocks and .571 hitting percentage.

Fabiano Barreto led the team with nine digs, but struggled offensively. He had 12 kills, but had 11 errors on 39 swings for a .026 hitting percentage.

Penn State had five players with at least 10 kills and was led by Wentzel and Kowal's 18 kills each. Nate Meerstein had a double double with 10 kills and 10 blocks.

Lewis will head East next weekend when the team travels to George Mason and Rutgers-Newark for a pair of non-conference matches.