HUNTINGONDON, Pa. (Mar. 19, 2008) – The Saint Francis men's volleyball team fell behind early, and eventually succumbed to a 3-2 EIVA Tait Division loss at Juniata on Wednesday night.
Game scores were 30-16, 31-29, 22-30, 25-30, and 15-13.
The Red Flash (9-10, 5-5 EIVA Tait) grabbed a 3-1 advantage in the decisive fifth game, and held the lead until Juniata tied the game at 7-7 on a block by Zach Bock and Evan Halteman. An attack error and a Dan Powers service extended the Juniata lead to 9-7, before the Red Flash ended the run on an attack error by Craig Harvey.
Sophomore Dave Reilly (Yardley, Pa. / Pennsbury) led SFU with 19 kills, 5 assists, 6 digs and 5 blocks, while sophomore Pete Freyer (Orchard Park, N.Y. / Orchard Park) had 13 kills and 5 blocks. Three other Red Flash players finished in double-digit scoring, but they failed to keep their lead in the Tait Division.
It was a pivotal EIVA Tait Division match because Juniata was a half game behind Saint Francis in the divisional standings. The Red Flash will return to action with a 7 p.m. contest at 7 p.m. on Thursday night.
After a side out kill by Bock followed by a kill by Harvey, St. Francis regained the serve on a side out kill by senior Mark Steele (Martinsburg, Pa. / Central Martinsburg). A kill by Zach Wanner and Matt Werle put Juniata's lead at 13-9, with the game seemingly well in hand.
Saint Francis responded with a side out kill by Jordan Varee (Meadville, Pa. / Conneaut Valley) to cut the lead to 13-10, but an attack error on the ensuing Red Flash serve put Juniata on match point, 14-10. The Red Flash scored the next three points, closing the gap to 14-13, and forcing Price to call a timeout to set his offense.
On the ensuing serve by Saint Francis' Steele, Wanner's attack was blocked back over the net but wide of the court, giving Wanner the kill and Juniata the victory.
Juniata held a 2-0 lead in games in the match, after dominating the Red Flash in game one with a .600 hitting performance and no attack errors. The Eagles pulled out a win in game two, despite seeing the attack percentage fall off to just .095 with a match-high 13 attack error.
Saint Francis hit just .143 and .156 in games 1 and 2 respectively, but responded with a .310 attack percentage in game three and .345 in game four.
The Eagles were led by Halteman with 17 kills and a .448 attack percentage, while Powers logged 12 kills and hit .647 for the match and recorded six total blocks. Bock had 13 kills and four total blocks on the night. Werle set the offense with 54 assists with five total blocks for the Eagles. Libero Anthony Damiano had eight digs.
Saint Francis had four players record double-digit kill totals, led by Reilly with 19. Nick Rivett (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Fox Chapel) finished with 14 kills, while Freyer tallied 13. Steele had 46 assists for the Red Flash.
