April 23, 2008

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. - The No. 14 Lewis University men's volleyball team plays No. 10 Ball State in a Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association semifinal match on Thursday at Ohio State University. First serve is at 4 p.m. CT. For those who cannot make it to Columbus, the match will be webcasted for a fee by Ohio State.

A victory would put the Flyers in the MIVA Championship match to face either Loyola-Chicago or Ohio State. The Flyers would also be a match away from the NCAA Semifinals at Irvine, Calif. Up first is a tough Ball State squad. Lewis opened MIVA play with a loss at Muncie and closed the regular season falling to the Cardinals at home on April 12.

In Muncie the Flyers took the first two games from the Cardinals, but fell in the final three. After falling behind 24-16 in game three, Lewis went on a remarkable 11-0 run to get right back in it. Two service aces by sophomore Mike Iandolo and four kills by senior Jared Dayton highlighted the run that put the Flyers up by three. But Ball State scored the following four points to grab a 28-27 advantage. The Flyers tied it on a kill by junior Alex Vigansky but two straight points by the Cardinals pushed it to game four. In game five Lewis took a 5-1 lead but the Cardinals rallied to take the game and the match. It wasn't as close at home, with Ball State winning in four.

But Thursday's match is the one that matters. If the Flyers are going to come out with a victory they will need to slow down All-MIVA first team outside attacker Patrick Durbin. The senior had 17 and 19 kills against the Flyers this year. Durbin leads the MIVA and is 13th nationally with 4.44 kills per game. He is one of five All-MIVA selections for Ball State.

The Flyers have some fire power of their own though. Dayton ranks second in the MIVA in points (4.55), fourth in kills (3.84) and is working on a streak of 14 straight matches with double-digit kills. Dayton tallied 21 and 16 kills against the Cardinals already. Junior Drew Pickering had 18 kills against Ball State on April 12.

The Flyers and Cardinals are two of the best defensive teams in the MIVA. Lewis leads the conference in blocks (3.14) while Ball State is right behind at 3.12. Ball State middle attacker J.D. Gasparovic earned MIVA freshman of the year honors. He is the conference's blocking leader with an average of 1.40, which ranks fifth nationally. Vigansky isn't far behind, ranking third (1.30).¬¬ In January, the Flyers recorded a season-high 20.0 blocks. Vigansky had a double-double with 13 kills and 12 blocks (two solo) in the match.

Should the Flyers advance, the MIVA Championship match will be held at 6 p.m. CT on Saturday. Live stats will be available for all MIVA Tournament matches.