LORETTO, Pa – The No. 14 Saint Francis men's volleyball dropped a hard-fought 3-0 decision against the No. 9 Penn State Nittany Lions in front of a rowdy home crowd at DeGol Arena on Friday night. The Nittany Lions won 25-16, 25-22 and 25-23.
 
With the loss, the Flash falls to 3-4 overall and 0-1 in conference play, while the Nittany Lions move to 5-2 overall and 1-0 in the EIVA conference.
 
"Tough loss to shallow since we have been playing so well. The first set they had runs of points that separated us from them, but it sets two and three that I thought we played a lot better. We have to learn how to close them out," said head coach Mike Rumbaugh.
 
Jeff Hogan (Northern Cambria, Pa./Northern Cambria) led the Flash with 10 kills, while Stephen Braswell (Manchester, Pa./Northeastern) finished second on the squad with nine.
 
The Flash opened the first set with a 5-3 advantage, but a 5-0 run by the Nittany Lions put PSU ahead, 8-5. Penn State would go on to control the rest of the first set scoring six unanswered points to pull the scored at 15-8. The Nittany Lions closed out the first set on a 3-0 run to win, 25-16.
 
Saint Francis and Penn State exchanged points early in the second set. PSU started to pull away at 10-8, but the Flash scored three unanswered to go up one at 11-10. The two teams would tie the score at 16-16, 17-17 and 19-19, before the Flash would lead, 22-20. The Nittany Lions would go on to score the last five points to win the second set, 25-22.
 
In the third set, the Flash pounced on the Lions early with a 10-7 lead, but PSU would go on to score six of the next seven points to give Penn State a 13-11 lead. The Flash responded on a Keith Kegerreis (Chambersburg, Pa./Chambersburg) kill to even the score at 15-15. The Nittany Lions would go on to outscore the Flash 5-2 to finish off the third set, 25-23.
 
The Flash concludes their five-game homestand next Friday and Saturday against Lees-McRae College and Pfeiffer University. Both matches are scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
Highlights: https://youtu.be/yQ9BLYtrErw