Men's Volleyball 2/6/2009 11:45:19 AM

Red Flash Volleyball Downs NJIT 3-0

LORETTO, Pa. (Feb 6, 2009)– The Saint Francis men's volleyball team shut out the New Jersey Institute of Technology, winning 3-0 at DeGol Arena on Friday evening.

The Red Flash, who are now 5-2, will remain in Loretto to play host to Princeton on Saturday at 2 p.m. in DeGol Arena.

The first set started off well for the Flash, with Highlander Raphael Mattos committing a service error to give the Red Flash a point right of the bat. NJIT was able to tie the score 1-1. The game was kept close, as SFU was able to stay ahead of the Highlanders by one point for most of it until consecutive errors by Jordan Varee (Conneautville, PA/Conneaut Valley) (Conneautville, Pa./Conneaut Valley) and Nick Rivett (Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) gave NJIT a 12-10 lead. The Red Flash stormed back to take a 14-13 lead on a kill by Alex Fortney (York, PA/Central York) (York, Pa./Central York) and increased it to 24-19 on a kill Varee. Saint Francis held on and earned a 30-28 win on another Varee kill.

Another Highlander error got the scoring started in the second set as well, with NJIT's Robert Thomas committing an attack error. A kill by Varee and another NJIT error built the lead to 3-0 before their Highlanders go their first point on a Red Flash service error. The Flash kept the advantage; at one point taking a 10-6 lead with a kill by Rivett. An attack error by Fortney brought NJIT within one. But the Red Flash stayed strong, taking a 22-18 lead on another kill by Varee. A kill by Fortney handed the Flash a 30-27 victory.

Pete Freyer (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) scored the first point of the final set on a kill from Ryan Williams (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour). Charles Bell had a kill for NJIT to make the score 1-1, and the two teams held that rhythm until the Red Flash were finally able to take a 14-12 lead on an attack error by Mattos. Another Highlander attack error, this time by Amobi Armstrong, put the Flash up 18-14. Kills by Varee, Fortney and Rivett kept Saint Francis head of the Highlanders for the rest of the match, with Flash taking the set 30-25 to win the match 3-0.

Varee, who was named the EIVA's Player-of-the-Week, led the way for the Flash with a .586 hitting percentage, 21 kills and 6 digs. Fortney had 6 kills and 3 digs, as well as 2 block assists. John Wappler (Warrendale, Pa./North Allegheny) had 10 digs on the night, and Shane Conley (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) led the team with 31 assists. Varee, Rivett and Freyer each had a service ace for the Flash.

Thomas had a .444 hitting percentage and 5 kills for the Highlanders. Rodrigo Correa racked up 38 assists, while Amobi Armstrong led the way with 11 kills. Armstrong, Mattos and Bell had service aces. Bell also added in 10 kills and 5 digs.

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