FORT WAYNE, IND. – (Jan. 17, 2015)
 
The Saint Francis Men's Volleyball team continued it's tough opening schedule as it fell to No. 13 IPFW in three sets Friday night.
 
This is the fifth consecutive game for SFU against a top ranked team in the nation. 
 
IPFW started off strong against SFU as it recorded the first four ports of the opening frame. Jeff Hogan (Northern Cambria, Pa./Northern Cambria) was the first player for the Flash to record one of his game-high eight kills, starting a short run of offense for SFU.
 
The set stayed fairly even as both teams swapped points back and forth with neither taking complete control of the set. It wasn't until Saint Francis ran of a run of four straight points to take a 14-13 lead that things started to heat up.  After the burst of offensive for SFU, the Mastodons stormed back to take a 20-17 lead; forcing head coach Mike Rumbaugh to call a timeout.
 
The break did not go well for the Flash as IPFW scored on its next two possessions bring it's lead to five. Saint Francis only scored two more points in the set, falling to a score of 25-19.
 
In the second frame, the same misfortunes continued for SFU. Though it had a few offensive outbursts, one of being a run of five consecutive points, to stay within striking distance of IPFW, it just could not muster up enough offense to pull out the set victory as the Flash fell down two sets with the score of the frame being 25-17.
 
During the last set, Saint Francis got off to a hot start knocking down numerous kills and keeping the Mastodons on it's toes. The Flash led all the way up until IPFW tied it up at 13. After trading points to bring the score to 14-14, the Flash failed to score on the next four possessions.
 
Saint Francis fought back hard, pushing the final set to within one point at the 20-19 mark, but the Mastodons slowed down SFU with scoring five of the next six points to take the final set 25-20.
 
Along with Hogan, Stephen Braswell (Manchester, Pa./Northeastern) and Joseph Yasalonis (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury) both enjoyed strong performances from a percentage point. Braswell recorded five kills in 16 attempts and Yasalonis recorded four kills in five attempts.
 
Saint Francis continues it's play on the road as it travels to Muncie, Ind. to face off against Ball St. The first serve is scheduled for 8 p.m.