BOX SCORE LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis men's volleyball team came back from a two games to none deficit to defeat NJIT, 3-2, on Saturday night at DeGol Arena. The Red Flash won its fifth consecutive home match 22-25, 24-26, 25-21, 25-21 and 15-9. The Red Flash hit .361 for the match with Michael Kresch (Moon Township, Pa./Moon Area) registering 64 assists. He came just six shy of tying the school record for assists in a match.
 
Saint Francis (7-4, 2-1) never trailed in game three as it faced elimination against the Highlanders (4-4, 0-3). The Flash led 16-12 after Jeff Hogan (Northern Cambria, Pa./Northern Cambria)'s second kill of the set, and his third stopped a three-point run by NJIT to make it 17-15. That point keyed a 5-1 run that featured two kills by Kyle Beatty (Saegertown, Pa./Saegertown). Adam Barba (Meadville, Pa./Meadville) finished off the third game with fifth kill of the set. He hit .500 for the game as SFU hit .433. Hogan and Beatty each had four kills in the set, with Hogan hitting .600.
 
NJIT scored the first three points of game four, but the Flash stormed back with six of the next seven. Mark Kochan (Towaco, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) had an ace in the run. The teams stayed close until NJIT compiled a 6-0 run that put the score in its favor at 18-14 and forced a pair of SFU timeouts. After the second of those, Hogan recorded a kill to stop the run and Kresch pounded an ace to start a 4-0 run to the score at 18-18. The score was again tied at 21-21, but a 4-0 finish for the Flash evened the match at two games apiece. Kochan had a kill a block in that span. Beatty hit .444 with five kills in game four.
 
With the momentum, SFU traded points with NJIT in the fifth game but found itself behind 7-5. But the Flash strung together six straight points with Kresch adding a kill and two blocks to make it 11-7 SFU. With the game in control, Barba added two kills and Beatty finished the deal after a couple digs by Hogan to wrap the score at 15-9.
 
Barba led the way with 20 kills, and Beatty was just behind with 19. Kochan finished with 13 kills and a .556 hitting percentage. Hogan led the team with 11 digs, while Ray Frazer (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) and Barba each had 10.
 
SFU continues its homestand next Friday night against Harvard and Saturday against Sacred Heart.