ANNAPOLIS, Md. (Oct. 8, 2008) – Senior Kristin Buter (Bowie, MD/Bowie) (Bowie, Md. / Bowie) had a team-high 11 kills and 12.5 points, and sophomore Rachel Capizzi (Saint Louis, Mo./Mehlville) (Saint Louis, Mo. / Mehlville) added 8 kills, 2 aces and 3 blocks, but the Saint Francis women's volleyball team dropped a hard-fought 3-0 decision at Navy on Wednesday night.

Junior Shirley Miller (Fairless Hills, PA/Pennsbury) (Fairless Hills, Pa. / Pennsbury) contributed 10 kills and 1 block in the 32-30, 25-20, 25-23 defeat. Capizzi hit .571 with her 8 kills and no errors on 14 swings.

The Red Flash led by scores of 14-9 and 20-16 in the opening set before the Mids came back to tie the score for the first time at 20-20. The Mids would soon take a 23-21 lead, which the Red Flash (6-15) quickly erased with a 3-0 run. Saint Francis then served for the opening set at both 24-23 (service error) and 25-24 (Navy kill). The Mids then took a 26-25 lead and were able to serve for the set, but a Red Flash kill erased the opportunity. The teams traded the next nine points -- with Navy either tied or serving for the set -- before Alexa Gibbs tallied a kill to give the Mids the two-point win.

The two teams combined for 40 kills and just 22 digs in the opening set of the match.

Saint Francis would take a slim three-point lead early in the second set until a Krista Eschelman kill knotted things up at 8-8. From there, the score would be tied six more times, with what would prove to be the last tie coming at 15-15. A kill by Jessie Sims and a service ace by Gibbs started a 4-1 run for the Mids that gave Navy a little breathing room at 19-16. Saint Francis closed to within two points at 19-17 and 20-18, but Navy scored five of the last seven points of the set to take a 2-0 lead in sets.

The Red Flash again started out fast in set number three and soon built a 12-7 advantage. Navy clawed its way back into the contest and eventually tied the score at 18-18. A few points later, after a Saint Francis attack error tied the score again at 20-20, Gibbs, who is ranked eighth nationally in service ace average this year, stepped back to serve for the Mids. Her first serve resulted in a kill for Sims, then she dropped in an ace to give Navy a 22-20 lead. Following a timeout by the Red Flash, the Navy lead grew to 23-20 when Kristin Butler was called for a ball-handling error. A block by Navy setter Marissa Watson took Navy to match point at 24-20.

A Buter kill, and then a Miller kill and a block by the duo of junior Rikki Myers (Noblesville, IN/Westfield) (Noblesville, Ind. / Westfield) and senior Kayla Greenwalt (Colorado Springs, CO/Widefield) (Colorado Springs, Colo. / Widefield) led to the Red Flash pulling to within one point at 24-23. Saint Francis served again, but Sims immediately knocked down her 15th kill of the evening to end the match.

The Mids held advantages over the Red Flash in kills (49-41), hitting percentage (.269-.223), service aces (5-3) and digs (47-39), all of which balanced out the 10.0-3.0 advantage in blocks Saint Francis enjoyed in the contest.

Greenwalt hit .571 in the match with 4 kills and no errors on 7 swings, and added 6 blocks, while Myers dished out 30 assists.

SFU (6-15) will resume play with its NEC opener against Robert Morris at 6 p.m. on Oct. 18, at DeGol Arena.