LORETTO, Pa. (Nov. 10, 2010) - The Saint Francis women's volleyball team kept it tight against the first-place team in the conference for the second consecutive match, but this time were unable to complete the comeback when they dropped a 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-16, 25-17) decision to the Robert Morris Colonials at DeGol Arena in a rare weekday, conference showdown.

The Red Flash fall to 8-20 overall, with a 7-9 record in the Northeast Conference. Robert Morris improves to 16-16 overall with a 13-2 record in the NEC. The win ensures the Colonials will hold at least a tie for the top spot in the Northeast Conference.

Meanwhile, while the loss did not mathematically eliminate the Red Flash from the NEC playoff race, they now need more help from their conference rivals than before to take a spot. In particular, the Flash will need to win their season finale against Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday, and hope that Central Connecticut State loses at least two of their final three matches, including a loss to Sacred Heart.

The teams split the first two sets, with the first set in particular featuring seven lead changes and 10 tie scores. The set was tied as late as 22-22, when Amanda Zahumensky (Sarver, Pa./Freeport Area) (Sarver, Pa./Freeport) set things even with a kill. However, the Colonials would notch three straight to take the first set 25-22.

Things did not fluctuate nearly as much in the second set. Although Robert Morris would open up with a 2-0 lead, the Red Flash battled back to take a 5-4 lead on a Lizzy Williams (North Bend, Ohio/Saint Ursula) kill. Their lead would become as great as six points, and the Red Flash put the set away 25-21 on a Lauren Wingard (York, Pa./Dallastown Area) (York, Pa./Dallastown) kill.

The Colonials would take the last two sets, however, giving up the lead only twice for the rest of the match.

Lindsay Malloy (Gallitzin, Pa./Penn Cambria) (Gallitzin, Pa./Penn Cambria) had the match-high with 12 kills and hit a solid .276; she also added five digs and three blocks. Wingard had 11 kills, hit .348, and recorded five blocks. Williams had nine kills and a service ace. Logan Meinert (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) started at setter and had 44 assists, and the team hit .188.