LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis women's volleyball team will host the annual Red Flash Classic this weekend at DeGol Arena. Navy, Iona and Eastern Kentucky will join the Red Flash in the two-day invitational that begins Friday. Saint Francis opens with Eastern Kentucky on Friday at 7 p.m. before playing twice Saturday against Navy at 1 p.m. and Iona at 7 p.m. All six Red Flash Classic games will air live on NEC Front Row.
 

Red Flash Classic Schedule
Friday
Iona vs. Navy	4:30 p.m.
Saint Francis vs. Eastern Kentucky	7 p.m.
Saturday
Iona vs. Eastern Kentucky	11 a.m.
Saint Francis vs. Navy	1 p.m.
Eastern Kentucky vs. Navy	4:30 p.m.
Saint Francis vs. Iona	7 p.m.

 
OPPONENTS
Navy enters the invitational with a 7-2 record and had its five-match winning streak snapped in its last match against East Carolina. On that five-match streak, the Midshipmen won the first four matches in straight sets. Navy swept the UMES Invitational two weeks ago without dropping a single set in three victories.
 
Iona earned its first victory of the season when it defeated St. Francis Brooklyn in straight sets on Tuesday. The Gaels enter the weekend with a 1-9 overall record.
 
Eastern Kentucky is 3-6 on the season but enters the weekend on a two-match winning streak at the Akron Invitational. EKU defeated the Zips in four sets before sweeping Canisius.
 
MARCINOWSKI NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT
Junior Emily Marcinowski (Strongsville, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) was named to the Toledo/ASICS Invitational All-Tournament Team for her performance in three SFU matches last weekend. Marcinowski finished the weekend with 32 kills and 28 digs. She had a double-double against Fort Wayne with 13 kills and 15 digs. She also just missed another one with 12 kills and nine digs against Toledo. She's currently third on the team in kills with 87 and in kills per set with 2.42.
 
DEFENSIVE LEADERS
Junior Sophia Esposito (Coraopolis, PA/Montour (Gardner-Webb)) has ascended the NEC rankings for blocks per set and now leads the conference in that statistic. She is averaging 1.28 blocks per set to lead the NEC while currently ranked 61st in the NCAA in that category. She had two solo blocks and 13 block assists last weekend in Toledo.
 
Fellow junior Jenna Veres (Independence, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) continues to climb the digs list, currently in second place in the NEC with 175 digs and 4.86 digs per set. She's 56th and 42nd in those categories nationally, respectively. She had 37 digs last weekend.