Geoff Powell had a career-high 32 kills for Lewis against Ball State.
MUNCIE, Ind. -- Redshirt junior outside hitter Geoff Powell collected a career-high 32 kills to help the Lewis to a 3-2 (22-25, 21-25, 25-19, 25-23, 15-13) against No. 12 Ball State on Saturday at Worthen Arena.
Powell swung .409 (32 K, 6 E, 64 TA) on the night while also collecting 13 digs for his second double-double of the season as he became the first Flyer to tally as least 30 putaways in a match since Jay Petty picked up 30 in a five set victory against IPFW on April 22, 2012.
"Geoff was dialed in offensively and defensively for us tonight," Lewis head coach Dan Friend said. "He put the team on his back after we made a few changes in the line-up and we were able to get a gutsy win in a tough road environment."
Sophomore middle blocker Bobby Walsh hit .467 with eight kills and one error in 15 attempts while junior libero Lucas Yanez tallied a career-high 15 of the Flyers' season-high 63 digs. Redshirt senior setter BJ Boldog dished a season-high 59 assists.
Down two sets, the Flyers came out of the intermission and turned the momentum in their favor. Lewis hit .258 (13 K, 5 E, 31 TA) while holding Ball State to an .088 (11 K, 8 E, 34 TA) clip in the third set. Powell collected eight putaways, doubling his total at this point in the match, and six digs in the set.
In the fourth set, Lewis was able to tie the set at 14-all on a kill by redshirt freshman middle blocker Jacob Schmiegelt to kick of a four-point run by the Flyers to take a 17-14 lead. Powell picked up a kill while Schmiegelt and junior opposite Eric Fitterer collected a block assist for the Flyers as Ball State committed an unforced attack error in the run. Ball State got within one at 21-20 but the Flyers came out of a time out with a putaway by Powell to push their lead back to two and held on for the set victory.
After using their final time out of the fifth set down 12-10, the Flyers used a 5-1 run to collect the set and the match. Lewis swung .320 with 10 kills, seven by Powell, and two errors in 25 attempts in the deciding set as Ball State hit .233 (10 K, 3 E, 30 TA).
The Cardinals offense was led by Marcin Niemczewski's 15 putaways, nine digs and seven block assists as Matt Leske posted a double-double with 12 kills and 12 block assists. Ball State's setter Graham McIlvaine dished out 54 assists while Matt Sutherland chipped in 13 kills.
