UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (Jan. 21, 2011) – The Saint Francis men's volleyball team did something against the #10 Penn State Nittany Lions they hadn't done in five years, but it was not enough to exorcise the demons in State College as the Flash fell 3-1 (18-25, 25-20, 19-25, 22-25) to Penn State.
The Flash took a set from the Nittany Lions, the first time SFU has taken a set from Penn State in State College since January 12, 2006. Overall, the Red Flash played their tightest match with the Lions in years, and did so with a young line-up featuring two freshman starters; however, Penn State's upperclassmen proved the difference in taking the final two sets.
“It was nice to see the young guys come in here and be successful early on,” said Saint Francis head coach Michael Rumbaugh, whose team falls to 0-2 overall and 0-1 in the EIVA Tait. “I always try to play the Ohio States, the Penn States early in the year because it gets the jitters out of the way. Once these guys see the best of the best, they can gain more confidence.”
The Flash jumped out early to a 4-2 lead in the first set, opening the scoring on a Logan Patterson / John Skarupa (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegehny) block and adding kills from Skarupa and Colin Sherwin. The Nittany Lions gained their momentum though and went on a 13-6 run to make it 15-10, and the Red Flash had trouble recovering. Saint Francis would get no closer than five points for the remainder of the set and had trouble with the hot-hitting Lions. The Red Flash hit an excellent .409, but the Nittany Lions sizzled at a .565 clip in the 25-18 win.
Rumbaugh said his statement to his team between the first and second sets was a simple one: patience.
“We talked about the first set being sort of a practice set, because that line-up only played one game together in practice today,” said Red Flash head coach Mike Rumbaugh. “We talked to the middle hitters and told them not to leave their feet, that Penn State will do what we thought they were going to do in a tight match.”
Saint Francis jumped out to a 5-0 run in the second set that featured three blocks from the Patterson/Skarupa tandem as well as a Patterson kill. This run prompted Penn State head coach Mark Pavlik to call a timeout to regroup his team as the Red Flash now bubbled with confidence. The Nittany Lions against overcame their sluggish start, though, and used a 9-2 run to take the 9-8 lead over the Flash. The set stayed close, however, and after SFU took the lead at 11-10 they were able to keep Penn State from taking the set over. After a 3-0 culminated with a Chad Martson (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) / Adam Roche (Cochranton, Pa./Cochranton) / Ryan Williams (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) block to make it 19-16, Pavlik called his second timeout of the set. SFU proceeded to score two of the next three points, though, to make it 21-17. A Williams/Roche block sealed the 25-20 win.
After the long intermission between the second and third sets, though, the Nittany Lions looked rejuvenated. The Red Flash hung with them neck-and-neck, but the Lions came out the game hitting a blistering .667 and posted a 15-11 lead before Rumbaugh called timeout. SFU was able to mount a minor comeback and slash the deficit to 19-17 on a Martson kill, but Penn State settled into a groove and closed the set 25-19.
The fourth set started out as an even affair between the teams, with neither team establishing a lead beyond two points. After falling behind 14-12, the Red Flash tied the score at 14-14 on kills from Martson and Sherwin. PSU posted a 3-0 run to get to 17-14 that prompted Rumbaugh to use a timeout, but Martson notched two more kills to pull his team within one point. After tying the set at 20-20, the Lions went 4-1 to push the score to 24-21 and force Rumbaugh into his final timeout. Although Saint Francis did pick up one final point on a block, the Nittany Lions sealed the deal 25-22 for the 3-1 win.
Colin Sherwin had the team-high with 14 kills and hit at a .357 clip, recording just four errors. Patterson posted 13 kills. Chad Martson (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) had eight kills on 13 swings for a sizzling .615 hitting percentage. Ryan Williams (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) had 46 assists as the team hit a strong .361. John Wappler (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) fell one dig of the match-high, posting seven for the second consecutive match.
