Box Score

LYNCHBURG, Va. (Sept. 10, 2011) – The Saint Francis University women's volleyball team concluded its run at the Liberty Tournament with a 3-1 (27-25, 25-17, 18-25, 25-17) victory over Rider.

“I liked our ability to bounce back and take control in the fourth set after a breakdown in the third,” head coach Chuck Mullen said. “They did a great job today at being finishers and that's something that we're continuing to work on. Today we took a great step towards that.”

The Red Flash (3-8) attack in the opening set appeared as strong as it had all tournament long as they put down 19 of their 27 set points for kills. Saint Francis found themselves trailing nearing the halfway point of the set until junior middle hitter Lauren Wingard (York, Pa./Dallastown Area) went on an 11-point serving run to give the Flash an 18-13 lead. SFU would add a few more points until Rider went on a run of its own to close the gap and tie the set at 23. The next few rallies would go back and forth between the two teams until Wingard posted two consecutive kills to end the set for the Red Flash.

Rolling behind four sequential service aces from freshman Kayla Jeckell (Mountaintop, Pa./Crestwood), Saint Francis enjoyed a 7-3 lead early in the second set. An attack error on SFU gave the Broncos new life to string together a few points of its own. With the set tied at 13, Saint Francis began to pull away from Rider thanks for three kills in a row. Rider struggled to keep the remainder of the set close and the Flash drove to an eight point second set win, and put them up two sets to none.

Looking to close out the match in straight sets, the third set began on an even playing field a quarter of the way through with the score set at nine apiece. Rider recorded four unanswered points and from there the Flash could not string together enough points to regain the lead in the set.

With another chance to close the match, the Red Flash compiled its best team hitting percentage of the match at a .424 mark. Saint Francis trailed by four with the Broncos up 10-6, but the Flash battled and put up a couple of points here and there to climb its way back into the set. Past the halfway point, the set reached a tie at 16 and opened the door for another long serving run from Wingard to close the set and match. Wingard, with the help of her teammates, strung together 11 consecutive points to give them their third win of the young season.

Junior Elizabeth Williams (North Bend, Ohio/Saint Ursula) led the offensive charge for the Red Flash in the match as she racked up a season-high 18 kills and a .567 hitting percentage. Classmate Amanda Zahumensky (Sarver, Pa./Freeport Area) finished second with 14, while Wingard also reached double digits in kills by registering 12. Sophomore setter Logan Meinert (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) collected an impressive 50 assists, setting not only a new season-high, but a new career-high as well.
Defensively, sophomore libero Brittany Stambaugh (Leola, Pa./Conestoga Valley) led the stat sheet with 15 digs. To go along with her 14 kills, Zahumensky picked up 10 digs as well, on her way to her first double-double of the season.

For her efforts over the weekend, Williams was named to the All-Tournament team. Williams saw action in all 12 sets Saint Francis played and registered 33 kills to just eight errors, good for a .379 hitting percentage. After accumulating a career-high in blocks last season, Williams is off to a solid pace to repeat as she racked up 10 blocks over the weekend (one solo, nine assisted).

Up next, the Red Flash returns home Tuesday night Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. for a non-conference match with Coppin State at DeGol Arena.