LORETTO, Pa. (March 19, 2010) - The Saint Francis men's volleyball team suffered their fourth consecutive loss, falling in three straight sets to the #6 Penn State Nittany Lions in a match played in Loretto on Friday evening.

The Red Flash fall to 8-10 overall and 1-4 in the EIVA Tait, while the Nittany Lions go to 16-3 overall and a perfect 7-0 in EIVA Tait play.

The key to the success of the Nittany Lions was their ability to bounce back quickly after Red Flash points, often going on long runs and forcing a sideout when the Red Flash were able to put points on the board; the Nittany Lions finished with a .760 sideout percentage, with the Red Flash in comparison having a .530 sideout percentage.

The Red Flash began the first set neck and neck with the Nittany Lions, tying it 2-2 on kills from Jordan Varee (Conneautville, PA/Conneaut Valley) (Conneautville, Pa./Conneaut Valley) and Patrick McManamon (Huntingdon, PA/Huntingdon) (Huntingdon, Pa.).  Kills from Joe Sunder and Max Lipsitz built the lead for PSU, though, and they would begin to distance themselves from SFU.  Varee would notch another kill to pull the Red Flash to within 8-6, but the Nittany Lions put the pedal to the metal and went on a 9-2 run to fashion a massive 17-8 lead.  The points began to snowball from there, with the Nittany Lions maxing out their lead at 12 pointts (29-17) and eventually taking the set after a Tyler Mattera (Conneautville, PA/Conneaut Valley) (Conneautville, Pa./Conneaut Valley) service error.

The mistakes began to compound for the Red Flash as things unraveled early in the second set; Penn State opened the second period on an 8-2 run, but only three of those points - a double- and triple-block, and a kill from Lipsitz - came from the hands of a Nittany Lion.  However, Saint Francis quickly found its composure and began a run of its own, outscoring the Nittany Lions 9-4 to cut the deficit to 12-11.  Mattera ended up with two of his team-high five kills in that set, including the tally that brought the score close.  However, the Red Flash were bedeviled by the serve of Lipsitz, who started a second 8-2 run for the visiting Nittany Lions.  The lead now 20-13, the Nittany Lions put the second set away 30-19 with a Ryan Wolf service ace.

The Red Flash began the third set with an early lead, with a pair of blocks from Mattera/McManamon/Ryan Williams (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) and Mattera/Adam Roche (Cochranton, Pa./Cochranton) highlighting the run.  The Red Flash built their lead to as many as five (14-9, thanks to a Jordan Varee (Conneautville, PA/Conneaut Valley) kill), but the determined Nittany Lions fought back and tied the score at 15-15 on a Joe Sunder kill.  The Nittany Lions turned the tables and a 17-16 lead and never looked back, taking the final set 30-26 on a Tor Covello kill.

The Red Flash were led in kills by Jordan Varee (Conneautville, PA/Conneaut Valley) with 15, who was followed by the eight kills of Mattera.  John Wappler (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) (Warrendale, Pa./North Allegheny) set the match-high with 12 digs.

The Red Flash play their next match on Saturday, March 27 against Princeton at DeGol Arena.