PITTSBURGH, Pa. (Aug. 27, 2010) – The Red Flash started out on fire but fizzled late, as they fell to the Morgan State Lady Bears 3-2 (25-19, 25-18, 19-25, 18-25, 11-15) in their first match at the Courtyard at Marriott Tournament hosted by Duquesne at the A.J. Palumbo Center.

The Red Flash started the match with two straight set wins, but the Lady Bears shoved back in a big way and took the final three sets, forcing a number of Red Flash miscues.

“They responded to pressure well, and started doing some different things that we didn't adjust to,” said head coach Chuck Mullen.  “We just need to regroup, forget about it, and pick it up against Lehigh.”

Things were looking great at the outset, as the Red Flash showed good chemistry and flow in the first two sets.  Lizzy Williams (North Bend, Ohio/Saint Ursula) recorded the first kill of the 2010 season for the Red Flash, taking a nice set from Kierstin Kiser (Clarion, Pa./Clarion) (Clarion, Pa./Clarion) to put the Flash up 1-0.  The Red Flash built their early lead on errors from the Lady Bears, scoring on three errors early on as they started on a 6-3 run.

The passing, at least early in the first set, was crisp for the Flash, with Kiser getting good looks on the serve-receive.  However, Red Flashbreakdowns allowed the Lady bears back into the contest, and Morgan State briefly took a 9-8 lead with a 6-2 run.  Red Flash again gained the upper hand; Lindsay Malloy (Gallitzin, Pa./Penn Cambria) (Gallitzin, Pa./Penn Cambria) put away ball after a long rally to take a 14-12 lead, and Danielle Reese (Port Matilda, Pa./Bald Eagle Area) (Port Matilda, Pa./Bald Eagle) notched an ace to push the lead to 15-12.

Rachel Capizzi (Saint Louis, Mo./Mehlville) (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville) helped put the pressure back on the Lady Bears, recording another ace to give her team the 20-16 lead and forcing Morgan State to a timeout.  Kiser utilized a dump move twice, recording a kill on the first and forcing a panicked Lady Bears attack to error with the next, and the Red Flash forced their second Morgan State timeout with the score 23-17 in favor of SFU.

The Lady Bears opened up the second set with a 2-0 lead, but a Malloy kill and a Reese ace quickly tied the score.  The teams battled back and forth, with Malloy showing little rust from the injury that kept her out of the action in 2009; she had two quick kills in the second set and recorded an ace to give the Red Flash the lead.  Leading 10-8 in the second, Reese and Williams notched two straight kills to bump the lead to 12-9.

The set went the way of the Red Flash in a hurry, though, as SFU's front line of Lauren Wingard (York, Pa./Dallastown Area) (York, Pa./Dallastown) and Kiser established their defensive presence, notching blocks and keeping the ball on the Morgan State side of the court.  Kiser again went to the dump move in building the lead back up, putting the Red Flash up 23-17 with another deft touch.  After Malloy buried another kill to make it 24-18, Williams blocked an off set for the set point, 25-18.

Morgan State played some of their best volleyball of the match to start the third set, coming out on fire to take a 6-3 lead by going right at the blockers of the Red Flash.  They pushed that lead to 10-5 as the stymied Red Flash looked to again get touch at the net.  Wingard pounded a ball to chip away at the lead, and then Malloy forced an error with a strong swing to make it 10-7.  The Lady Bears' mistakes began to compound, and then a Malloy kill pulled the Red Flash to 10-9.

However, the mistakes piled up for the Red Flash, and they were forced to take a timeout when trailing 15-10 as the result of a miscommunicated serve-receive.   The play improved out of the time-out, with the Red Flash pulling it to 17-15 on two straight Wingard kills.  Malloy fired an ace on the next service to make it 17-16 and force a Morgan State timeout.  

Similarly, the Lady Bears recorded three straight points out of their time-out to make the score 20-16 in their favor.  Wingard broke the streak with a kill, but Morgan State had five of the next seven points to take the third set 25-19.

The turnaround became more dramatic in the fourth set, as Morgan State raced out to an 8-4 lead built primarily on timely hitting and a few Red Flash miscues.  The defense was taking its lumps, with Morgan State not finding much resistance in building their lead to 11-5.  The Morgan State rout was on in the fourth, with Morgan State leading by as much as 20-10 at one point.  The Red Flash would pull all the way to 24-18, but ultimately fell in the fourth set 25-18.

Coach Mullen saved his first semi-permanent line-up change of the day for the fifth set, inserting Leeanne Haus (Mars, Pa./North Allegheny) (Mars, Pa./North Allegheny) as the starter for Reese.  However, Morgan State maintained their late surge and jumped out to a 5-2 lead.  The Red Flash leaned on Williams and Wingard to get them offense, but Morgan State forced the court flip at 8-5.  Wingard responded with an immediate kill, and Haus notched the next one to pull her team within one point.  After two straight points by the Lady Bears, Mullen called time out to regroup his squad.

Regroup they did, as the Red Flash came out of the timeout recording points on a Williams kill and a Haus ace.  That made the score just 11-10 in favor of the Lady Bears, and Haus evened the ledger at 11 with her second straight ace.  Capizzi got blocked on her next swing to give the Lady Bears a 12-11 edge, and Malloy pushed a ball just past the back line to give them another point, and forcing Mullen to call his final timeout.  A pair of Red Flash errors gave the final set and the match to the Lady Bears 15-11.