LORETTO, Pa. (Feb. 20, 2011) - The Saint Francis men's volleyball team extended their season-long win streak to three matches, defeating Mount Olive 3-1 (25-22, 18-25, 25-22, 25-17) to cap a three-match weekend at DeGol Arena.  The Red Flash improve to 7-5 overall, while the Trojans fall into 9-4.

"This was a nice win because we got to get a couple different guys some playing time," said Red Flash head coach Michael Rumbaugh.  "It was good experience for them, especially against a good opponent like Mount Olive.  They learned a lot today."

Indeed, the Red Flash were able to work 15 different players into the match against the Trojans, including the first career start for freshman setter Michael Krepp.  The newcomers didn't look out of place, performing well against Mount Olive.

The first set started out neck and neck, but Saint Francis was able to snap the tie at 14-14 on a Logan Patterson kill.  It was one of six kills Patterson would post in the first set, and the Red Flash would use a 7-3 run to build their lead to four points.  Now in control, the Red Flash took the set 25-22 on another kill from Patterson. 

The Trojan offense rebounded quickly, though, and controlled the tempo of the second set by hitting a sterling .625.  In the process, the Trojans took the lead at 13-12 and never again trailed as they took the set 25-18.  Rumbaugh shook up the SFU line-up in the third set in order to spark his team, and he got it; this time, the Flash got seven kills from Patterson, as well as a timely service ace that broke a late 21-21 deadlock.  Adam Roche (Cochranton, Pa./Cochranton) forced set point with a block, which the Flash ultimately got on a Mount Olive attack error.

In the fourth set, the Red Flash went coast-to-coast, taking the 1-0 lead on a block from the combination of John Skarupa (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegehny) and Alex Kane (York, Pa./West York), and never even allowed the Trojans to tie the score en route to the 25-17 win.  The Flash used superior defense to take the set, getting 3.5 team blocks to just 1.0 for the Trojans. 

The Flash offense was led by Patterson, who registered a career-high 15 kills, as well as one ace and two digs, and hit .478.  Skarupa had 10 kills, hit .444, and also added one dig and one block.