BROOKYLN HEIGHTS, N.Y. (Sept. 26, 2010) - The Saint Francis women's volleyball team posted a late surge against the defending Northeast Conference champions, but were unable to overcome a 2-0 deficit against the Long Island Blackbirds in a 3-1 (22-25, 21-25, 25-22, 13-25) loss in Brooklyn Heights.

The Blackbirds improve to 2-12 overall, with a 1-1 record in the Northeast Conference.  The Red Flash fall to 2-13 overall, 0-2 in the NEC.

The Blackbirds took the early lead in the first set, but the Red Flash tied the first set at 7-7 on a Lauren Wingard (York, Pa./Dallastown Area) (York, Pa./Dallastown) kill.  They then briefly took the 9-7 lead on a pair of Amanda Zahumensky (Sarver, Pa./Freeport Area) (Sarver, Pa./Freeport) kills, but Long Island went on a 6-2 run to take the 14-10 lead.  Leeanne Haus (Mars, Pa./North Allegheny) (Mars, Pa./North Allegheny) pulled the Red Flash to within 21-19 thanks to two straight kills, but Vanessa Gemignani put a ball away to take the first set 25-22.

Like the first set, the Red Flash briefly gave themselves a lead early when Lizzy Williams (North Bend, Ohio/Saint Ursula) ripped a kill to make it 3-2.  The Blackbirds built their lead back up, but Lindsay Malloy (Gallitzin, Pa./Penn Cambria) (Gallitzin, Pa./Penn Cambria) had two kills to tie the score midway through at 12-12, and Wingard recorded one two plays later to make it 13-13.  At 14-14, LIU began to pull away, and ultimately took the set 25-21.

Long Island looked to be taking the match in a sweep when they started out the third set 7-2, but the Red Flash played catch-up the rest of the way and ultimately swiped the momentum when they tied the score at 17-17.  This was part of a 10-0 Red Flash run saw SFU go up 22-17.  After Williams got them to set point on a kill, the Red Flash won the third set 25-22 on an attack error.

The fourth set started out even, but at 5-5 LIU rattled off three straight points to make it 8-5.  Zahumensky would record a kill to pull SFU to within 10-8, but LIU scored 15 of the last 20 points to win the set 25-13.

Lauren Wingard (York, Pa./Dallastown Area) led the Red Flash with 14 kills and a .333 hitting percentage.  Also in double-digit kills was Williams, who finished with 10 to go along with six blocks.  Kierstin Kiser (Clarion, Pa./Clarion) (Clarion, Pa./Clarion) had 42 assists, and Chrissy Breisch (Edwardsburg, Mich./Edwardsburg) had a season-high 17 digs.