Box Score

NEWARK, N.J. (March 23, 2012) – As the Saint Francis University men's volleyball team begins its push towards the postseason, the Red Flash took down Rutgers-Newark in three sets (25-23, 25-23, 25-23) Friday night in New Jersey in Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association action.

In the opening set, SFU (10-11, 5-3 EIVA) tallied its best statistical set of the match with 14 kills and a .400 attack percentage against the Scarlet Raiders (8-9, 1-6 EIVA). Saint Francis jumped out to a 12-5 advantage after going on a 9-2 run early on in the set. Rutgers-Newark stormed back however all the way to a tie at 23 all. A kill from Logan Patterson (Derry, Pa./Derry Area) and an attack error on the Scarlet Raiders propelled SFU to the 1-0 lead in the match.

Set number two was much more tightly contested than the previous as no team had a lead larger than three throughout the entire set. Rutgers-Newark gained the largest lead of the set at 13-10. After exchanging a lot of point for points down the stretch, a final kill from Alex Kane (York, Pa./West York) put SFU up two sets to none heading into the third set.

The third set was evenly matched until the Scarlet Raiders jumped out to a 17-12 lead and looked to take a set back. Saint Francis collected the next six points however to take a one point lead, and nine of the next 10 points to build its advantage even further. A kill from Kyle Beatty (Meadville, PA/Saegertown) and one from John Skarupa (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegehny) at the tail end of the set lifted the Flash to the straight sets win.

Beatty led the Red Flash with eight kills on 12 swings, good for a .667 attack percentage. Michael Krepp (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) dished out 22 assists while the nation's second best blocker Adam Roche (Cochranton, Pa./Cochranton) recorded six total blocks (three solo, three assisted).

Saint Francis continues its New Jersey swing tomorrow with another EIVA contest against NJIT beginning at 4 p.m.