Loretto, Pa. – In a five game seesaw nail biter, Saint Francis prevailed in a vicious battle, 3-2 (18-30, 30-20, 30-32, 30-28, 10-15), shocking the 12th ranked George Mason Patriots in the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tait Division clash.
Sophomore outside hitter Jordan Varee (Meadville, Pa./Conneault Valley) set the tempo for the Flash once again, churning out 19 kills on 32 attempts. Sophomore Nick Rivett (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) put on a show of his own, netting 18 kills on 33 swings. Sophomore Dave Reilly (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) put forth 17 kills on the 41 swats, the most of all Red Flash spikers. Sophomore Pete Freyer (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) cleared seven kills on 10 attempts, on an error-free evening. Junior setter Shane Conley (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) put up 57 assists en route to a .310 attacking clip for the Red Flash (66 kills on 126 swings).
6'6 Sophomore Patrick McManamon (Huntington, Pa./Huntington) and Conley earned the only aces for the Red Flash. In addition, McManamon led the Flash with five blocks in the upset of George Mason.
Rivett pulled his weight on the defensive side of the net with 10 defensive digs, leading all participants in Friday night's match-up.
6'6 Sophomore Patrick McManamon (Huntington, Pa./Huntington) registered Saint Francis' first point on a sturdy block in the first game, followed by an unattested service ace off the palm of Reilly. The Patriots poured two more points on the board for the Flash off of two attacking errors, allowing SFU to jump out to a 6-3 advantage. Varee pounced on the Patriots' front line for a solid kill chased by a service ace that corralled right off of Mason's Luke Maloney's chest. Conley got up high for a great block and Varee made a heads up play on a faint, errant return that fell out of bounds from George Mason. Patriots' head coach Fred Chao decided a timeout for his squad was appropriate, trailing 11-4 in the early moments of game one. The Patriots scored on a missed SFU dig, but Varee countered with another one of his infamous blasts, dividing the Patriots defense. Rivett put his first point on the board in game one, but the Patriots benefited off of a few misses from SFU. Varee got the Flash back on track by whisking a soft kill over the top of the mesh, setting the count at 16-12. Freyer made an astute decision by reading the Patriots attack with a block of his own, which then turned into four unforced errors from George Mason. Chao called his second time out of game the game with his team trailing 22-13. Mason converted on the next point after the break from a back-and-forth volley in which Varee made two great digs, but then turned the ball back over on a service error. Varee fired a missile at the Patriots, posing too much for their front line, bringing the Flash closer to a game one victory 28-18. George Mason knocked one into their own side of the net and Reilly closed out game one, 30-18, on a sly poke through the Patriots' protection. Varee produced a perfect seven-for-seven attack-to-kill ratio, manufacturing 8.5 points. Conley set up 10 assists as the Red Flash out swung the Patriots .556 to .000.
In game two, Varee continued his quest for perfection with the first point off of his eighth kill. McManamon mimicked Varee, as the score became knotted at 2-2. Mason's looming 6'9 R.J. Goubeaux pushed the Pats out to a 4-2 advantage. Mason's Maloney and Varee exchanged service errors, making it a 6-4 George Mason lead. The Patriots then made two consecutive blocks, extending the score to 8-4. One of those blocks ended Varee's perfect kill streak. Patriots outside hitter Hudson Bates snuck an ace past a suspect SFU defense, but Reilly came back with a point of his own to maintain a deficit of four points, 10-6. The Patriots continued their relentless pursuit, lengthening their score by seven, 15-8. SFU head coach Mike Rumbaugh called for a timeout once he observed George Mason had turned the tables in the momentum department. Maloney missed on the serve after the break, but scored on the next play. Varee missed the hardwood again, as the Patriots jumped out to a 17-9 lead. Freyer chimed in for a fine swing right through the heart of the Patriots wall, but Rivett missed the defensive dig, keeping the discrepancy at eight. Mason converted on the next two plays, but Reilly fluffed one over the net in an attempt to fend off the mountain of points the Pats piled on. Fortunately for George Mason's efforts, they scored on the next three plays, amassing a 24-15 sum. Freyer and Reilly dunked two over the lattice, as the Patriots smoked one past the inbounds line, but Patriots Brandon McLaughlin blocked Varee's attempt to put the score at 28-19. George Mason's Kyle Gramit killed the next point and Hudson bates finished off the Flash in game two, 30-20, with a service ace. Reilly led the Flash's front with four kills despite the Patriots attacking at a .455 rate. Saint Francis put together an attacking average of .103.
R.J. Gorbeaux started off the Patriots on the right foot with his fourth kill on the evening as Luke Maloney followed his teammate. Mason turned it over on the serve but countered with two more points, sprinting out to a 4-1 score. After another SFU service miss, Gorbeaux scored again, but Rivett churned out a laser, bringing the count to 5-3. George Mason grouped together four consecutive points, distancing themselves from the Flash, 10-5. Varee got back on track with a routine pummeling, as the Flash scored the next three of four points after the attack, bringing the tally to a 12-9 affair. McManamon put his first ace in the stats, giving way to a joined blocked from Varee and Freyer. Varee just missed clearing the net on his service attempt as the score read 14-12 at the midway point, but Freyer kept it going with two fanciful kills of his own, keeping the Flash in it, 17-16 in favor of GMU. Rivett put one by the Patriots, but George Mason countered with their own point. Varee found his element in the later parts of game three, putting together two hard kills. George Mason turned it into an even affair, 21-21, after a service error. Four unforced errors occurred on the next four plays, but Mason got the better of three of them. R.J. Gorbeaux blocked Reilly's attempt, but Rivett had his companion's back with a point of his own. Mason hit the line on the next attempt, as the tight affair read 26-24 in favor of GMU. Both squads swap service errors, but Freyer drew the Flash within one on an unreturnable kill. The Patriots scored on the next volley, but Varee took advantage of George Mason's misjudged block. The Patriots pushed their next attack out of bounds, evening the game at 28-28. Rivett could not return a punishing Patriots attack, but Varee countered as the score remained level. Conley and McManamon combined for a block, getting the Red Flash faithful on their feet as game three, as Saint Francis acquired their first lead of game three, 30-29. Freyer missed the serve after Chao's timeout, but Rivett kept it alive with another kill. McManamon and Reilly formed an air tight seal on George Mason's final attack, giving the Flash a come-from-behind victory, 32-30, with their rousing block. Varee once again led the charge with five kills, assisting in a tightly contested attacking battle in which the Flash edged out the Patriots, .375 to .333.
George Mason once again started off with the first points of the game, but Rivett quieted their early joy with his own kill. Reilly peppered own past the Patriots, but McManamon missed on the next play. Rivett netted his second point in game four, giving the Flash the early 3-2 advantage. Luke Maloney and R.J. Goubeaux earned two consecutive blocks, but Rivett tallied his third point as Coach Chao called for a timeout with the score reading 5-4 in favor of the Patriots. The timeout benefited the Flash as the converted on the next to rallies. Mason scored next, but Varee held the lead for the Flash with his eighteenth kill. Rivett went long on the next point, drawing the game to a 7-7 tie. The Patriots recaptured the lead, 10-8. Varee battled back with another point, giving way to a GMU error. Hudson Bates broke the second lead of the game, but Varee closed it back up again with another counter, 11-11. Both teams exchanged errors on the following plays, as Varee knocked his serve into the net. Rivett then gave game four its fourth tie, 13-13. Freyer turned back GMU's point with one of his own, and on the following exchange, Mason turned it over by putting it into their net. GMU's Kyle Gramit blocked SFU's next attack, but the Patriots couldn't handle Varee's hot attack. McManamon tapped over SFU's second uninterrupted point. Mason scored on an errant whack from Reilly and then followed suit by thumping onto SFU's side of the floor, attaining an 18-17 lead. The Patriots rattled off two more points, but SFU gained back the serve on a GMU error. Reilly returned the favor, with the core reading 21-19 in favor of the Pats. Each team traded kills, but Mason kept their three point lead afloat with another nice whack. Reilly came with a huge kill, trimming the lead to two. GMU Gramit's cunning attempt fell just short, but an SFU block attempt went out of bounds as the score read 25-23. The Flash converted the same way, and the game drew even once again after Gramit pushed in out of play. George Mason took the first timeout in game four, going into a huddle up by one, 26-25. After the pause, Conley put the Pats up by two with a service error. R.J. Gorbeaux blew one by the Flash, but Brandon McLaughlin knotted it back to 27 all on a wayward serve. Rivett turned up the heat with a kill, pushing the Flash up by one, but Reilly missed on the serve, tying it back to 28-28. Rivett's attack went long and Gorbeaux concluded yet another nail biter with a stand-up block, 30-28, favoring the Patriots. In game four, Rivett led all Flash attackers with seven kills in yet another intimate attacking affair. The Patriots prevailed .265 to .231.
In the first to fifteen tie breaker, George Mason scored on another Gorbeaux kill. McManamon countered and Reilly plastered one past the Pats for the first three rallies of the final game. Rivett and McManamon teamed up for a strapping block, leading to another point by Rivett, as the Flash jumped out 4-1. Kyle Gramit scored on the following play, but Reilly spiked one down the pike to delete GMU's attack. Both teams bartered points, but Rivett stayed hot, as the Flash maintained a 7-4 lead thanks to his hard-hitting abilities. GMU assembled another error and Coach Chao took a timeout as his squad trailed, 8-4. Two SFU errors cut their advantage in half, but Freyer rose up for a sadistic spike as he took over the serve with the score reading 9-6, as Freyer remained errorless in the match. The Patriots made another error, but made up for it with a Kyle Gramit point. Mason put another notch on the board, but Reilly tripped up the Patriots with a velvety kill. GMU went wide on a block attempt, as Coach Chao took his final timeout of the match, knowing the Flash needed just three more points to upset his 12th ranked ball club. Conley served up a ball into the net after the breather, but GMU did the same as the score read 13-9, SFU. Mason blasted one through the hands of Reilly, but Mason couldn't control their block, as they put SFU on the brink of victory. Hudson Bates plowed his own attack into the net en route to a 15-10 victory in the final game as the Flash uprooted their 12th ranked conference rival, 3-2 (18-30, 30-20, 30-32, 30-28, 10-15).
After the huge win, Saint Francis (4-4) pulls even on the season and 1-1 in the EIVA Tait Division. The Red Flash will stay at home for another EIVA contest against the New York University Violets on Saturday, February 2 at 2:00pm in DeGol Arena.
