LORETTO, PA – The Sacred Heart Pioneers (15-9, 8-5) defeated Saint Francis (4-22, 3-10) in straight sets Friday night in Loretto.
 
The Pioneers defeated the Red Flash 32-30, 25-18, and 25-16 respectively to earn their fifteenth win of the season and eighth in conference play.
 
 
BOX SCORE LEADERS
 
The Saint Francis offense was led by Madi Tyus (Plano, TX/Bishop Lynch) who earned a double-double (17 kills and 10 digs) and Alexis Lambert (McKinney, Tx./McKinney-Boyd) who tallied 14 kills and seven digs. The Sacred Heart attack was led by Liisel Nelis who tallied 17.5 points on 15 kills.
 
 
FIRST SET RECAP
 

• Saint Francis opened the game on a 7-1 scoring run, forcing Sacred Heart to take an early timeout.
• After the timeout, SHU responded with a 5-1 run cutting their deficit to two points.
• A kill by Tyus ended the SHU run, which then propelled a run for the Red Flash.
• SFU jumped out to a 17-10 lead, which was quickly erased by SHU's four straight points.
• After an SFU timeout, Polk scored three straight points for Sacred Heart evening the game at 17.
• The teams exchanged points until the Pioneers earned their sixth set point at 31-30 and Alix Polk ended the marathon with a kill off of the SFU block.

 
SECOND SET RECAP
 

• A 7-1 run by Sacred Heart gave them a 14-7 lead early on, forcing SFU into taking their first timeout of the set.
• After the timeout, Saint Francis began to battle back into the set.
• Kills by Adams and Tyus cut the pioneers lead to 18-12, but the teams began to exchange points.
• A late ace by Emily Pieper (Paonia, Colo./Paonia) was not enough as SHU closed out the second set 25-18.

 
THIRD SET RECAP
 

• Sacred Heart opened the third set on an 8-2 run, making SFU take an early timeout.
• Following the timeout, a block by Keara McGraw (Austin, TX/James Bowie) and Nicole Adams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) helped cut into the Pioneer lead.
• SHU took five of the next six points extending their lead to 15-6.
• A Tyus kill made it 16-8, but SHU responded with a 4-0 scoring run giving them a 20-9 lead.
• Another kill from Tyus brought the Red Flash to within eight, but it was not enough as the Pioneers went on to win the set 25-16 and the match three sets to zero.

 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Red Flash will wrap up the regular season on Saturday night as they welcome in Fairleigh Dickinson on Senior Day. The Red Flash will honor seniors Amelia Metzler (Littleton, Colo./Chatfield) and Christa White (Rochester, N.Y./Spencerport) and graduating junior Elise Dumouchelle (Ashburn, Va./Broad Run) in a pre-game ceremony. First serve is set for 5 p.m.