LORETTO, Pa. (Jan. 22, 2015) -- The Saint Francis U men's volleyball program makes history this weekend by hosting the No. 1 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers and the No. 2 Lewis Flyers in the same weekend. The Red Flash has hosted teams of this caliber before, but never in back-to-back contests.
 
"We have to be the first team in NCAA history to play the top 2 ranked teams in the country on back-to-back nights," said head men's volleyball coach Mike Rumbaugh. "This shows how much we are respected around the country that both of the top teams want to come to Loretto to play." 
 
Saint Francis opened the 2015 season with one of the NCAA's hardest men's volleyball schedules. They began the season against four Mountain Pacific Sports Federation squads and two Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association teams. All of Saint Francis' opponents have been ranked in the AVCA top-15 poll some point this season. California Santa Barbara ranks No. 8, UCLA No. 9, Long Beach State No. 10 in the latest polls. IPFW jumped up two spots to No. 11, while Ball State moved into the national rankings for the first time this season at No. 14. California State University at Northridge were ranked as high as No. 13.
 
The first match begins on Friday at 7 p.m. in DeGol Arena against No. 2 Lewis. Lewis jumped from the No. 5 spot to the No. 2, following last week's wins over Carthage and Harvard. The No. 2 spot is the highest ranking for Lewis since coach Dan Friend took over the Lewis program in 2005.
 
Saint Francis completes the weekend's action by hosting the No. 1 Loyola-Chicago Ramblers on Saturday at 7 p.m. Loyola-Chicago ranks No. 1 after receiving 269 votes and 17 of the 18 first place votes.
                                                                                                                                    
"I feel very good about both matches, said coach Rumbaugh. "If you want to be the best you have to compete with the best and our guys know that."  "Because of our youth we are huge under dogs, but I have seen the potential in short spurts out in California against other top 10 teams." "If we can sustain playing where I see our potential is for longer periods of time we can upset either team."
 
For the fourth time, Saint Francis hosts the previous National Champion (Loyola-Chicago) at DeGol Arena. They are currently on a nation-best 30-match winning streak dating back to the 2014 season.