COLUMBUS, Ohio (April 17, 2010) - The Saint Francis men's volleyball team wrapped up the final match of its 2010 regular season, falling 3-1 (21-30, 30-28, 23-30, 24-30) to the #11 Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus.

The loss drops the Red Flash to 12-14 overall, while the Buckeyes rise to 20-14.  The Red Flash also fall to 1-6 this season against Division I teams ranked in the AVCA Top 15, with their sole win coming against the Buckeyes on January 17.

In the first set, the Buckeyes led coast-to-coast in taking the 30-21 win.  John Klanac opened the scoring with a kill as the Buckeyes built their lead to 10-6.  Nick Rivett (Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) stopped the bleeding with a kill and sparked a short run for the Red Flash, posting three kills in a 5-2 run that pulled the Flash to within 12-11.  After Tyler Mattera (Conneautville, PA/Conneaut Valley) (Conneautville, Pa./Conneaut Valley) wrapped the run with a kill, Ohio State went on a 12-3 run to all but seal the deal in the first set, capping the 30-21 win on a Kevin Heine kill.

The Red Flash bounced back in the second set, and after briefly falling behind, took the 3-2 lead on a Patrick McManamon (Huntingdon, PA/Huntingdon) (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon) kill, followed by a McManamon block build the lead further.  Shawn Sangrey put the Buckeyes back up 7-6 at one point with a kill, but after an OSU service error Jordan Varee (Conneautville, PA/Conneaut Valley) (Conneautville, Pa./Conneaut Valley) ripped a kill to make it 8-7.  The Red Flash went on a 5-2 run that included a a kill and an ace from Adam Roche (Cochranton, Pa./Cochranton) and a solo block from Varee that forced a Buckeyes timeout.  The Buckeyes would eventually put themselves ahead at 26-24, but the Flash notched three straight points on kills from Roche, Varee and Rivett to force a second OSU timeout, and ultimately took the set 30-28.

Like the second set, the third set featured 11 tied scores and five lead changes as both teams struggled to gain the upper hand on the other early on.  All of those close moments came within the first 20-some points, though, as the Buckeyes got the lead 13-12 on a Ted Schoenfeldt kill and rode the wave of momentum to a relatively easy victory, outscoring the Red Flash 18-11 to end the set 30-23.

In the fourth set, the Red Flash started on a 4-2 run, opening the scoring with a block from Roche and capping the run with a Varee kill.  Ohio State would respond with an 8-2 run of their own to make it 10-6.  They would keep the Flash at arm's length, never letting them get closer than two points agian for the rest of the set in their 30-24 win.

Jordan Varee (Conneautville, PA/Conneaut Valley) led the Flash with 15 kills; while below his season average of roughly five kills per set, he did hit .414 with just three errors.  Nick Rivett (Pittsburgh, PA/Fox Chapel) also reached double figures in kills, notching 11 to go along with his seven digs.  John Wappler (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) had the match-high with 15 digs, while Adam Roche had a match- and career-high six blocks.  The Red Flash outblocked the Buckeyes 12.0-5.0 over the course of the match.

The Red Flash will open play in the EIVA Tournament on Saturday, April 24 against the Springfield Pride in a match played in Springfield.