AKRON, Ohio (Sept. 11, 2010) – The Saint Francis women's volleyball team concluded its stay at the Akron Invitational on Saturday, falling 3-0 (22-25, 19-25, 12-25) to the hosting Akron Zips in Akron on Saturday morning.

With the loss, the Red Flash fall to 2-8 overall.  Akron improves to  5-4 overall.

The first set started out on the right foot for the Red Flash, and it appeared they might be ready to bounce back after losing their first two matches in Akron.  Lizzy Williams (North Bend, Ohio/Saint Ursula) helped open the scoring with a kill as the Red Flash scored the first two of the set.  The Zips rebounded, though, and eventually built themselves a 12-7 lead, with Leeanne Haus (Mars, Pa./North Allegheny) (Mars, Pa./North Allegheny) busting up a 4-0 run to get the Flash back on their feet.  The turning point would come when, with Akron leading 16-10, the Zips committed a service error.  The Red Flash rattled off five straight points in a run where Lauren Wingard (York, Pa./Dallastown Area) (York, Pa./Dallastown) and Amanda Zahumensky (Sarver, Pa./Freeport Area) (Sarver, Pa./Freeport) each recorded kills and combined for a block.

The score now 16-15, the two teams traded points late into the set, with SFU briefly taking a 21-20 lead on a Haus kill.  However, Akron would go on to score five of the next six points for the win.

In the second set, the Red Flash initially fell behind 2-0 before a 5-1 run put them ahead.  The two teams exchanged points, with the Red Flash able to maintain the upper hand for a good portion of the set.  However, Akron was able to tie the score at 15-15 and never let the Red Flash back on top, eventually ending the set by scoring the final six points of the set to take the win 25-19.

The Zips exerted some muscle in the third set, though, taking control of the game from the outset.  They opened the set on an 11-2 run and eventually took the set 25-12.

Wingard was the leading kills-getter for the Red Flash with eight, and also contributed two blocks, three digs, and one ace.  Zahumensky had seven kills to go with two assists and eight digs.  Chrissy Breisch (Edwardsburg, Mich./Edwardsburg) tied the team-high with  eight digs.