LORETTO, Pa. (Jan. 29, 2011) – The Saint Francis men's volleyball team faced daunting odds after falling behind 0-2 to #14 Loyola University of Chicago, but found enough resolve to stun the Ramblers 3-2 (20-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23) after an action packed fifth set at DeGol Arena.
With the win, the Red Flash improve to 3-3 overall, while Loyola, losers of two straight, falls to 4-2. It is the first win for the Red Flash against a nationally-ranked team since defeating #11 Ohio State 3-1 at DeGol Arena in January 2010. It is the first time in seven tries the Flash have defeated the Ramblers.
"That was one of the best wins we've had since I've been here, and the exciting part is that we did it with 14 different guys playing," said Red Flash Michael Rumbaugh. "It's good to get that monkey off our back against Loyola, because we've played them close several teams and just never got over the hump."
"That was a very good win against a very good team."
Like the previous night's match against Lewis, the Red Flash found themselves in a marathon set, although this time the stakes were much higher. The fifth featured 19 tied scores and five lead changes as neither team could force a key stop after tying it up.
At first, Loyola had the advantage, serving for match point at 14-13, but the Flash would not be denied as they continued to pound away on offense. Saint Francis's first break came at 22-22, when Alex Kane (York, Pa./West York) registered one of his match-high nine blocks to make it 23-22. After a Chad Martson (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) service error tied it, the Flash got one more break when Loyola's Joseph Smalzer put one into the net. Kane notched one more kill on match point, taking the set 25-23.
The Red Flash stumbled to losses in the first two sets, as the Ramblers did a nice job of keeping the Flash offense off the board by holding them to just .148 hitting early on. The Flash led 12-11 in the first set after a Colin Sherwin kill, but Loyola controlled the tempo the rest of the way to win 25-20. The second set was nearly a coast-to-coast win for the Ramblers, who trailed only once – at 1-0, after an Alex Kane (York, Pa./West York) kill – and took the set 25-22.
Neither set was a runaway, though, and the Red Flash came out fired up after the intermission. Kane and Martson paced the Saint Francis offense in the third set, combining for 12 kills and a .409 hitting percentage. The set was back and forth and was tied as late as 21-21, but Kane broke the stalemate with a kill and the Flash sealed the deal with an Adam Roche (Cochranton, Pa./Cochranton) kill at 25-22.
Loyola thought it had righted the ship when they opened the fourth set on a 4-1 run, but a persistent Saint Francis team kept chipping away. The Red Flash tied the set at 16-16 after a block from the combination of Kane, Martson, and Eric Syty (Clarence, NY/Clarence); the Flash would get three more blocks in the next eight points as they tied the score at 21-21. After the Ramblers' Erie Deliege missed a serve to give SFU at 23-22 advantage, Martson tacked on two more kills to send the match to five sets.
Chad Martson (Whitehall, PA/Whitehall) and Alex Kane (York, Pa./West York) tied for the team-high with 18 kills apiece. Kane fell one dig and one block shy of a triple-double, finishing with nine apiece. Martson added seven digs and three blocks. Eric Syty (Clarence, NY/Clarence) had eight kills, one ace, one dig, and eight blocks. Ryan Williams (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) had 53 assists, three kills, seven digs, and four blocks. John Wappler (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) tied for the match high with 18 digs.
