NEWARK, N.J.  (Mar. 12, 2011) – Junior Ryan Williams (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) had 47 assists and sophomore Adam Roche (Cochranton, Pa./Cochranton) had a match-high 14 kills to lead the Saint Francis men's volleyball team to a 3-1 victory over NJIT on Saturday afternoon.

 

Roche hit .333 with 14 kills, 5 blocks and 2 digs, and sophomore sophomore Nicholas Bancroft had 6 digs and 4 assists in his first career start at libero, to lead SFU to the 24-26, 28-26, 25-22, and 25-23 win.

 

The Red Flash won their first road match of the year to improve to 8-8 overall, and 3-4 in the EIVA. They will return to action at 7 p.m. Friday when they play host to IPFW at DeGol Arena.

 

“It is nice to get back to .500 and it's good to see the team go into a visiting gym and fight hard for a win,” said Saint Francis head coach Michael Rumbaugh. “I'm especially happy for Nick Bancroft (Centerville, Pa./Maplewood), who did a real nice job for us in his first career start at libero.”

 

Freshman Logan Patterson added 13 kills and 5 digs for Saint Francis, while senior Markus Schulze (Berlin, Germany/Anne Frank) had 5 kills, a match-high 13 digs, 2 aces and 2 assists.

 

There were 13 ties and five lead changes in the first set, won by NJIT, 26-24. SFU had a 24-23 lead and an attempt at set point, but the Highlanders came back to win on a kill by Dhruy Lad and then two hitting errors by SFU.

 

Saint Francis opened the second set, 6-0, but NJIT crawled back into contention and eventually drew even, 22-22. The Highlanders took a 24-23 lead, but the Red Flash swung back with two points of their own before a service error tied it at 25-25.

 

NJIT tied it again at 26-26, but a service error and then a Roche kill gave the set to Saint Francis.

 

The third set was tied at 21 apiece when Saint Francis went 4-1 the rest of the way to prevail 25-22.

 

The Highlanders opened the fourth set with a strong start that included scores of 9-4 and later 12-7. Saint Francis knotted the score at 14-14 and later put NJIT on the brink with a kill by Eric Syty (Clarence, NY/Clarence) and an ace from Patterson to make it 24-22. Alex Kane (York, Pa./West York)'s strong swing gave the Red Flash a 25-23 win in the set and a 3-1 victory in the match.

For all the latest information, notes, pictures and related links on Saint Francis men's volleyball, follow Director of Athletic Communications Bob Volkert on Twitter (@SFUVolkert) and check www.SFUathletics.com. The Red Flash are also on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SFUAthletics.