LORETTO, Pa. (Nov. 7, 2010) - The Saint Francis women's volleyball team continued to make murky the Northeast Conference playoff picture, stunning the top-seeded Sacred Heart Pioneers 3-2 (25-21, 16-25, 16-25, 27-25, 15-7) in Loretto to keep their chances of making the NEC Tournament alive.

The win improves the Red Flash to 8-19 overall, 6-8 in the Northeast Conference. Sacred Heart has now lost two straight and falls to 25-6 overall, 12-2 in the NEC.

With the win, the Red Flash set themselves up for a key tiebreaker in the conference standings; should the Pioneers defeat the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils on Wednesday, the Flash would then own the tiebreaker with CCSU. The two teams split their matches this season. CCSU currently sits in fourth place in the conference.

Saint Francis set the tone in the first quarter by building an early lead over Sacred Heart and holding on to make it stick. While there was only one tied score (1-1) and no lead changes, the first set was still filled with excitement as the largest Red Flash lead was just five points, at 8-3. Lizzy Williams (North Bend, Ohio/Saint Ursula) got things rolling with a kill as the Flash opened to that 8-3, highlighted at the end by Lauren Wingard (York, Pa./Dallastown Area)'s (York, Pa./Saint Ursula) kill and block. Though Sacred Heart would keep it close throughout, the Flash ultimately closed the set 25-21 on a Wingard kill.

The Pioneers would control the second and third sets, though, despite brief early leads from the Red Flash. Winning by scores of 25-16 in both instances, the Pioneers hit .418 and .222, respectively, in those sets. In comparison, the Red Flash hit .143 and .069 in those sets.

It looked as though Sacred Heart would win the fourth set, as well as the match, when they jumped out to a 7-2 lead to open proceedings. However, the Red Flash scored five straight to tie the score at 7-7, and the race was on. SFU first took the lead at 18-17 when Lauren Wingard (York, Pa./Dallastown Area) put a ball away, and Leeanne Haus (Mars, Pa./North Allegheny) (Mars, Pa./North Allegheny) made it a two-point lead with her kill on the next point. The Pioneers would retake the lead and had match point at 24-23, but Amanda Zahumensky (Sarver, Pa./Freeport Area) (Sarver, Pa./Freeport) saved the match with a kill. Ultimately, a Sacred Heart service error set the table for Lindsay Malloy (Gallitzin, Pa./Penn Cambria) (Gallitzin, Pa./Penn Cambria) to give Saint Francis the set win with a kill.

The fifth set was even early on, but the Red Flash broke a 3-3 stalemate with a 6-2 run to make it 9-5. They closed on another 6-2 run to seal the deal, with Williams and Zahumensky teaming up for the game-winning block.

Four Red Flash players ended up with double-figure kills: Wingard (12), Malloy (11), Williams (10), and Haus (10). Williams and Haus hit .429 and .400, respectively, and Williams also contributed five blocks and five service aces. Logan Meinert (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) came in to set in the fourth set and had 21 assists. Chrissy Breisch (Edwardsburg, Mich./Edwardsburg) had 13 digs.