Lewis ‘D’-lightful in victory against Cardozo

If there was one thing that Francis Lewis didn’t excel at before the year it was defense. The two-time defending champion Patriots had just about everything else down pat, from hitting to setting to passing.

“At the beginning of the season, our defense definitely wasn’t as good as it could have been,” coach Arnie Rosenbaum said.

Unfortunately for the rest of the city, that has all changed.

Flashing some of its best ‘D’ of the season, Lewis beat visiting Cardozo, 25-8, 25-13, on Wednesday afternoon in PSAL Queens A6 girls volleyball. Gyna Anthony had 10 digs, Jillian Escobar had seven digs and Alicja Pawelec had six.

“We’ve been getting better,” Rosenbaum said.

Lewis (9-0) dominated from start to finish, unlike the first time it played Cardozo (6-2). The Patriots got out to a 6-1 lead, led by two Alexandra Persaud blocks. The junior right side wasn’t even supposed to play today with a banged up ankle, but she made an impact for the second time against the Judges.

“She really set the tone from the beginning,” Rosenbaum said.

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Cardozo got most of its points off Lewis errors. The Judges didn’t string together two straight points until it was already 18-8 in the second set. They scored four points in a row – their most all match – to make it 19-12 in the second set, but Pawelec had two straight kills to extinguish the rally. Her emphatic kills on an over pass by Susan Kang made it 24-13 and Hikari Miyazawa’s service ace finished off the match.

After making it to the semifinals, where it lost to Lewis, at the Lady Patriot Invitational, and with two matches this week, Cardozo coach Danny Scarola said his team was a bit burnt out.

“You have to work harder,” he said. “You don’t walk in and play like that against Francis Lewis.”

Pawelec had 12 kills and two aces, Chereese Sheen had six kills, Escobar had four kills and Persaud added three blocks. Dominika Mrozowska had 21 assists and is 100 away from the school record, held by her predecessor, Jen Dortch. There was a question before last season if Mrozowska could fill Dortch’s shoes, yet she has done so quite well.

The victory gave Lewis another division title, a possibility Rosenbaum didn’t even tell his players before the match. The Patriots have loftier goals, like being the only girls volleyball team ever to win three straight PSAL city titles.

“I’ve seen all the other teams in the city with the exception of Staten Island – Wagner and MSIT,” Scarola said. “[The Patriots] are definitely the favorites to win it all.”

With wins coming easy at times, it would be easy to see Lewis not being able to get up for certain matches. The two-times-a-year the self-motivated Patriots face Cardozo in league play, though, is a different story.

“I don’t tell them much,” Rosenbaum said.

mraimondi@nypost.com