AKRON, Ohio-   The Red Flash volleyball team heads to the Rubber City of Akron, Ohio for this weekend's Akron Invitational.
 
Saint Francis will match-up with the Canisius Golden Griffins on Friday at 4 p.m., the host Akron Zips on Saturday afternoon at noon and the Navy Midshipmen on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
 
About the Flash
Saint Francis comes into the weekend at 1-4 on the season after falling in a tough four-set match at Youngstown State.  The Flash dropped three-set matches to Manhattan, Tennessee and Towson last weekend in Maryland. Hannah Kutny (Clifton Park, N.Y./Catholic Central) leads the offense with 49 kills while Sophie Murdock (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion ) leads the defense with 11 blocks through the five matches.
 
About the Griffins
The Griffins come into the match at 1-3 on the season, sweeping Loyola (Md.) and falling to Morehead State, Indiana State, and Marshall. Rachel Kline leads the Griffin offense, she averaged over three kills per set in the first four matches. The last time these two teams met, Canisius won 3-0 in 2011 and have won 12 of the 18 meetings.
 
About the Zips
The Zips come into the weekend at 1-3 overall, sweeping Western Illinois and falling to SIU-Edwardsville, Drake, and Cleveland State. Akron is picked sixth in the Mid-American Conference and posted an 8-23 record last season.  Julia Smagacz leads the Akron offense with 49 kills over four matches, Kelsey Wilson leads the defense with 18 blocks.
 
About the Midshipmen
The Naval Academy is 0-3 on the young season, getting swept in all three matches hosted by Temple last weekend. The Midshipmen fell to Saint John's, Oregon and Temple.  They are coming off a 14-12 season where they went 11-5 in the Patriot League and made it to the semi-finals of the conference tournament.  Tara Dotzauer leads a balanced offense with 14 kills through the three matches as Navy has five players with double-digit kills. Darby Minton leads the way with 28 digs so far this season. Navy and Saint Francis U. have not met since the 2008 season. The Mids won a 3-0 decision over the Red Flash that day to build a 12-2 advantage in the all-time series.
 
Full information for the Akron Invitational is available on the Invite's tourney page. Links to video and live stats are available on the volleyball schedule page.