LORETTO, Pa. (Mar. 30, 2008) – The Saint Francis men's volleyball team had seventh-ranked Ball State on the ropes several times in Game 2, but fell just short in falling to the Cardinals in a non-conference match-up, 3-0, on Sunday at DeGol Arena. Ball State spoiled the regular season home finale for Saint Francis.
The match featured and amazing 43 ties and 19 lead changes, but none of the games went SFU's way.
Sophomore outside hitters Nick Rivett (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Fox Chapel) and Jordan Varee (Meadville, Pa./Conneaut Valley) paced the Red Flash offensive attack with 17 and 16 kills, respectively. Junior setter Shane Conley (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) dished out 41 assists, and sophomore outside hitter Dave Reilly (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) added eight kills. Sophomore Patrick McManamon (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon) contributed two kills and six blocks.
Saint Francis dropped its seventh straight match to fall to 9-13 on the season, and will try to get back to its winning ways when the Red Flash travel to Mercyhurst on Tuesday night. The team's EIVA Tait finale will be at East Stroudsburg on Friday night. SFU could clinch a first-round playoff home match with in a win in the match.
Ball State featured a balanced attack with four players acquiring seven or more kills. Patrick Durbin hit .325 and led the way with 19 kills. Marcus Imwale had 13 kills, JD Gasparovic had nine kills and Matt McCarthy added seven. Ethan Pheister dished out 46 assists.
Saint Francis got off to a great start in Game 1, but cooled off as the Cardinals took control in the middle part of the game. The Red Flash hit just .147, led by Rivett with five kills and a .444 hitting percentage. But Ball State hit .333 as a team, and Durbin hit .750 with six kills on eight swings. Freshman Eric Syty (Clarence, N.Y./Clarence) started the match with the first serve and got a big kill from McManamon after a Ball State free pass gave the Red Flash time to set up. After a 1-1 tie, Varee spiked his first kill of the match off the block to make it 2-1 Saint Francis. Beginning with a service error, the Cardinals went on a 3-0 run to take a 4-2 lead, but the Red Flash rallied and began to take control. Rivett recorded his first kill of the match and Ball State had an attack error to tie the match up at 4-4. Rivett set Varee up for another kill, and back-to-back attack errors by BSU gave Saint Francis a 7-4 lead. After a service error, the Red Flash went on a 5-3 run to take a 12-8 lead. With a 13-10 lead, Saint Francis had a service error and back-to-back attack errors that tied the game at 13-13. The Cardinals took a 15-13 advantage off a service ace and a block before Rivett made it 15-14 with a kill. However, a couple of Ball State kills and some misreads by the Red Flash resulted in a 6-0 run for the Cardinals to put them up 21-14. SFU got as close as four points at 25-21 after a McManamon block, but Ball State closed the game out on a 5-1 run to win Game 1, 30-22.
Game 2 was an amazing back and forth battle that featured 30 ties and 13 lead changes alone. Durbin had eight kills in the game for BSU, while Rivett led the Flash with eight of his own. Saint Francis out-blocked the Cardinals 7.0 to 5.0 in the game. It ended as the longest game of the year for the Red Flash. Rivett put SFU on top 1-0 with a kill off the block. But the theme of the match would be the fact that neither team could pull away by more than three points during the duration of the game. A net violation tied it up at 1-1, and the team's were on their way. A Varee kill and a net violation by Ball State gave Saint Francis a 4-2 edge, but that would be the only two-point lead of the game for either team until the Cardinals went up 16-14. But a kill by Varee and then a block by Varee and McManamon knotted the game at 16-16 again. The Cardinals took another two-point lead at 22-20 and 23-21, only to see SFU tie it at 23-23 once again. Those two points were the beginning of a 5-0 run for the Red Flash that gave them the biggest lead of the game at 26-23. However, BSU stormed back and tied it at 27-27 behind two kills from Durbin. With the score tied at 28-28, Varee put SFU in position to take the game with a kill to make it 29-28, but a Durbin kill tied the game. Conley placed a perfect set for Rivett on the next play and Rivett gave SFU a second game point try at 30-29, but Rivett's attempt out of the back row went into the net to tie it at 30-30. McManamon surprised Ball State with a touch off the set that fell for a kill to give SFU a third shot at game point at 31-30, but a net violation gave the point to Ball State to tie it at 31-31 again. On the next play, the Cardinals committed a double contact to give the Red Flash a fourth try at game point at 32-31. However, Chamberlain made up for his mistake with the next kill to tie it again at 32-32. Lee Meyer came in to serve for the Cardinals and sent the ball into the net to give SFU its fifth try at game point at 33-32, but Rivett's kill attempt went wide to tie it at 33-33. Ball State finally got its first try at game point after a kill by Durbin gave the Cardinals a 34-33 lead. SFU head coach Mike Rumbaugh called timeout to settle his team, and the move paid dividends. An attack error by Durbin tied the match again at 34-34. Syty went back to serve and Durbin's attack hit the antenna to give SFU its sixth attempt at game point at 35-34 as Ball State called a timeout. However, the Red Flash touched the ball four times on the next volley to tie it at 35-35. Pheister committed another service error to give the Red Flash a 36-35 advantage. Gasparovic came up with the big play this time by placing a prefect attack to the center of the Red Flash floor to make it 36-36. Gasparovic then gave the Cardinals another shot at game point with a kill to give them a 37-36 lead, but another service error went long by Durbin to make it 37-37. Chamberlain's kill gave Ball State a 38-37 lead, and the game ended with a tough play for the Red Flash. Varee came out of the back row for a kill, but his ball fell wide and the officials ruled that it was not touched by a Ball State player to give the Cardinals the game at 39-37.
Game 3 was nearly as exciting as the second contest with nine ties and three lead changes. The Red Flash jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead, only to see the Cardinals storm back to tie it at 11-11. The game went back and forth with several ties over the next couple minutes until back-to-back kills by Varee and Rivett gave SFU a 20-18 lead, but a 6-1 run put the Cardinals on top 24-21 and they would never relinquish the lead. After trailing 28-24, the Red Flash stormed back to make it 28-27, but kills by Durbin and Chamberlain ended the match with a 30-27 Ball State victory in Game 3.
The Cardinals improved to 17-7 on the season with the victory.
