Box score

ROMEOVILLE, Ill.-  Lewis University advanced to the championship match of the Great Lakes Valley Conference tournament with a 3-1 win over visiting UIndy at Neil Carey Arena Saturday night.  LU (30-7) will defend its league title against Southern Indiana Sunday afternoon.

The Greyhounds (28-9) took the first set, using a run midway through to help earn a 25-17 win.  With UIndy clinging to a slim one-point lead at 9-8, back-to-back kills by Abby Merritt sparked a run that produced eight UIndy points to Lewis' three for a 17-11 lead.  The Hounds would not relinquish that advantage in the set and took the lead in the match, 1-0.

The visiting Hounds appeared headed for the same result in the second set, jumping out to a 10-4 advantage.  The lead would grow to nine points before attack errors began to plague the Hounds.  Lewis benefitted from five straight hitting errors by UIndy, the final two via blocks as the Flyers erased the deficit and eventually drew within two points at 22-20.  The Hounds could not recover, registering five more errors in the set-- all of Lewis' points-- to drop the second set, 25-23.  All told, UIndy had 11 attack errors in the second set and hit -.068 in the second frame.

In the third set it was the defending league-champions that took early control.  Lewis grabbed a 12-5 lead and never looked back, regaining momentum and snagging a two-sets-to-one advantage for the match. 

While the Hounds did get off to a good start in the fourth set, a dry spell again doomed the offense as three straight errors followed by three straight Flyer kills turned a three-point UIndy lead into a 12-7 Flyer margin.  Lewis never turned their back on that lead, stretching it to as many as nine before taking the 25-20 win.

Sophomore Cheneta Morrison tallied a team-best 12 kills for the Greyounds.  Recently-named GLVC Player of the Year Beth Robbins recorded 22 digs and chipped-in 43 assists in the loss.

LU continued its stranglehold on UIndy, taking its sixth straight win versus the Hounds over the past two seasons.  The Greyhounds will look to exact revenge in the NCAA tournament as both teams are ranked in the top six of the Midwest Region heading into this weekend's action.  The top eight teams from each region advance to the 64-team field, set to be announced Sunday at 10:00 p.m. Eastern time at NCAA.com.