Flash Points:

• SFU finished the La Salle Invitational 1-3 after splitting its matches on Saturday, defeating Morgan State and losing to La Salle.
• The win against Morgan State gave head coach Sara McMullen her first career victory.
• Junior Jenna Veres (Independence, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) surpassed 1,000 career digs, just the sixth player in school history to accomplish the feat.
• SFU's match against La Salle included two sets that carried into extra points.
• Three SFU players had double-doubles in the La Salle match.

PHILADELPHIA – The Saint Francis women's volleyball earned a split on the second day of the La Salle Invitational, defeating Morgan State in straight sets before losing a tightly contested match to the hosts, 3-1. Junior Jenna Veres (Independence, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) became the sixth player in school history to record 1,000 career digs.

SFU vs. Morgan State (3-0: 25-12, 25-12, 25-10)
The Red Flash earned its first win of the season and the first career win for head coach Sara McMullen with a three-set victory over Morgan State. Saint Francis held the Bears to a -.060 hitting percentage. It's the first time SFU has held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage in nearly six years. The Red Flash held Quinnipiac to a -.045 hitting percentage on Nov. 6, 2010.

On the offensive side, the Red Flash hit .368 in the first set, recording 10 kills to just three errors on 19 attempts. Four Red Flash players registered multiple kills in the set, led by three from Breanna Opera (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster ). She finished the match with six kills. After Morgan State cut the SFU lead to 16-12, the Flash rattled off the final nine points of the set to win, 25-12. Kelsey Roush (Johnstown, Pa./Richland) had two points in the run, and Sophie Murdock (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion ) added another. Roush finished with seven kills, and Murdock had five kills while hitting .455.

Emily Marcinowski (Strongsville, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) led SFU in the second set with four kills. She finished with eight in the match while hitting .500, tied for best on the team. Cecilia Esposito (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) also hit .500, with four kills. SFU raced out to a 7-1 lead in the game. Amelia Metzler (Littleton, Colo./Chatfield) had an ace in that stretch. SFU finished with nine aces in the match with three coming in each game. Roush finished game two with one of her two aces to give SFU another 25-12 win.

Although Saint Francis' hitting percentage dropped to .176 in game three, SFU held Morgan State to just two multiple point streaks on 11 chances. SFU jumped out to a 7-1 lead and put the game out of reach with a 9-1 run to make it 19-6.

Veres had 15 digs, and Amelia Metzler (Littleton, Colo./Chatfield) had 21 assists.

SFU vs. La Salle (1-3: 30-28, 23-25, 22-25, 28-30)
The Red Flash (1-3) finished its weekend in Philadelphia with a match against host La Salle. In a back-and-forth slugfest that included a pair of sets that went beyond the required 25 points, La Salle emerged victorious with a three sets to one victory. Three Saint Francis players recorded double-doubles.

SFU carried its momentum from the Morgan State win into the first set against the Explorers, hitting a match-best .279 in the set. Roush was the catalyst of the SFU attack, registering six kills and an ace in game one without committing an attack error. After Marcinowski scored and Murdock recorded an ace to make it 18-17 La Salle, the teams never strayed more than a point from each other until the deciding score. Roush had one of her kills to make it 28-27, and SFU didn't trail again on its way to a 30-28 win.

Cecilia Esposito (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) had four kills in the second set, and her fast start in that frame staked the Red Flash to an early lead. Elise Dumouchelle (Ashburn, Va./Broad Run) had two of her five aces in that second set, and the second of those gave SFU a 20-17 advantage. La Salle fought back, though, to score six of the last seven points of the set to win, 25-23.

Metzler had all three of her kills in the third set, and she combined that with 38 assists and 10 digs to be one of three Red Flash players to record a double-double. Roush finished with 15 kills and 10 digs while Marcinowski had 11 kills and 10 digs.

The Flash fell behind in that third set, 9-1, but it used a 5-0 run that included three service aces from Murdock to cut the deficit to 14-12. One of Metzler's kills sparked a three-point run to tie the score at 22, but SFU wouldn't score again in the set.

In the fourth set, it took La Salle's third match point to finally close the deal, 30-28. With the score even at 28, Opera hit a close shot that was called out to swing the advantage to La Salle. The Explorers won the set and match on the ensuing point.

SFU next plays in Pittsburgh next weekend at an invitational jointly hosted by Duquesne and Robert Morris.