BOX SCORE LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis men's volleyball team said goodbye to nine senior players and a team manager on Saturday afternoon in its EIVA match with No. 12 Penn State, but the Nittany Lions spoiled the party with a 3-1 victory over the Red Flash. Penn State won 25-19, 23-25, 25-15 and 25-17.
 
Mike Marshman (Glenmont, N.Y./Bethlehem Central) and Logan Patterson (Derry, Pa./Derry Area) each had three kills in the first game for the Red Flash, but Penn State hit .433 and used an 8-2 run to jump out to a 14-6 lead on the Flash on its way to a 25-19 win.
 
In game two, the Flash scored three aces, with Patterson's ace coming first to give SFU its first lead of the match at 6-5. Patterson's ace came three points later to make it an 8-6 lead. A Patterson kill and block book-ended two Kyle Beatty (Saegertown, Pa./Saegertown) kills to push the advantage to 12-8.   
 
Marshman's second ace of the set made it 18-14, but a four-point Penn State run tied the score at 18-18. After a Mark Kochan (Towaco, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) kill gave the Flash the lead again, Penn State scored three more points to take a 21-19 lead. But the Flash responded in a big way as Kochan had two kills and Patterson had one on a 4-0 run to make it 23-21 SFU. The teams traded the final four points of the set to pull the Flash into a 1-1 tie heading into game three.
 
Beatty and Kochan each had four kills in the set, with Beatty hitting .800 and Kochan swinging at a .500 clip. Patterson had three kills (.333), as the team hit .500 in the set.
 
Penn State jumped ahead 7-3 in game three, but the Flash scored three of four points to pull within 14-12 midway through the set. But the Nittany Lions took control of the game at that point, finishing the match on an 11-3 run. Colin Sherwin (Greensburg, Pa./Greater Latrobe) had two of the Flash's three points during that stretch. He finished with a team-high eight kills on the afternoon.
 
Patterson's ace gave the Flash a 6-5 lead in game four, but the Nits rattled off five straight points as they looked to close the match. SFU responded, however, with a 5-2 run keyed by Beatty. He had two blocks and a kill in that run as the Flash pulled to 12-11. But the Nittany Lions slowly increased its advantage, outscoring the Red Flash 9-3 as it moved ahead, 21-14, on its way to a 25-17 win.
 
Beatty and Patterson each finished with seven kills while Kochan had six. Marshman had four kills and hit .667. Lucas Behringer (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) led the team with eight digs.
 
Saint Francis hits the road to conclude its season next weekend at Rutgers-Newark and NJIT.