(Posted March 19, 2010)

ROMEOVILLE, Ill. -- Juniata College men's volleyball gave host Lewis University all it could handle in the first set, but eventually dropped a 3-0 decision to the Flyers on Friday night at the Neil Carey Arena. Set scores for Lewis were 44-42, 30-25, and 30-25.

Juniata (5-9) hit just .194 against Lewis, led by outside hitter Chris Vrooman's (Baden, Pa./Ambridge Area) 11 kills and eight errors on 36 swings. Middle Ben Wolff (Meadville, Pa./Meadville) was the Eagles' top hitter by percentage, hitting .500 with nine kills and one error on 16 attacks. Senior outside hitter Zach Wanner (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) logged nine kills on his 32 attempts, along with five digs.

Sophomore Mike Kraft (York, Pa./Eastern York) set the offense with 30 assists, and led the Eagles at the net with three total blocks. Senior libero Anthony Damiano (Lititz, Pa./Manheim Township) had 18 digs.

Lewis (13-6) had four players with 10-or-more kills, led by Aaron Flick with 16 terminations. Nathan Klaas and Ian Karbiener had 12 kills each, while Jay Petty finished with 10.

Flick and Mike Iandolo recorded four total blocks each, leading a Lewis squad that outblocked Juniata 10.5 to 6.0.

The first set score of 44-42 was the longest set played by Juniata in the rally-scoring era. It eclipsed the previous high of 41-39 in the second set of last season's 3-1 win over Springfield College on March 27, 2009, at the Kennedy Sports + Recreation Center.

The Flyers had a four point lead as late as 26-22 in the set, but the Eagles rattled off four straight points to tie the set. Damiano had a kill to open the run, but the next three points came off Lewis errors. From there the two teams traded the lead back-and-forth looking for set point, before back-to-back kills by Karbiener gave the Flyers the win.

Juniata, ranked third in the AVCA Division III coaches poll, continues its road trip tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. Central at Loyola University-Chicago.

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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.