CHARLESTON, IL- Fresh off a marathon five-setter, the Red Flash simply ran out of gas against the Iona Gaels, falling in three sets in the finale of the EIU Panther Invite.
 
Nicole Adams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) continued her strong Saturday with 11 kills and 2 blocks against the Gaels but Iona triumphed 25-19, 25-14, 25-22.
 
SET ONE

• Iona jumped out to an early lead paced by a pair of kills and a block to lead 4-2
• A Sophie Rice (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) kill helped the Flash win three of the next four points to tie the set at 5
• A Keara McGraw (Austin, TX/James Bowie) kill stopped an Iona run and cut the Gaels lead to 10-8
• A pair of Sophie Rice (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) and Madi Tyus (Plano, TX/Bishop Lynch) blocks out of a time out, cut the Gaels lead to one
• Iona responded with three straight to re-take a three-point lead at 15-12
• A pair of SFU attack errors forced a Red Flash timeout as the Gaels' lead grew to 18-14
• Iona's momentum carried out of the timeout, building the lead to as many as seven
• Sophie Rice (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) had three blocks in the set, but Iona took set one 25-19

 
SET TWO

• Iona broke open a three-three set with a trio of points to force a SFU timeout
• Kills by Cecilia Esposito (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) and Madi Tyus (Plano, TX/Bishop Lynch) cut the Iona lead to one at 9-8
• Nicole Adams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) had a kill and a block as the Red Flash ran off three-straight points to tie the set at 11
• Iona ran off four in a row to force the final SFU timeout
• The Gaels had three-straight aces out of the timeout and ran off 10 in a row before a Nicole Adams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) kill stopped the rally
• Iona would take set two at 25-14

 
SET THREE

• Neither team would lead by more than two in the early stages as they split the first 16 points
• Iona had a pair of blocks that opened up a 13-10 lead and forced an SFU timeout
• A Madi Tyus (Plano, TX/Bishop Lynch) kill and a pair of bad sets from Iona tied the third at 15
• Another Tyus kill and a Cecilia Esposito (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) kill followed to tie the match at 17
• Iona would respond with three of the next four points to force SFU's final timeout of the set
• SFU got a kill from Tyus and another from Adams to cut the lead to 22-21 and force an Iona timeout
• The Red Flash could get no closer and dropped the final set 25-22

 
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Red Flash head to the Bluegrass State to take part in the Morehead State Invite. First up are the host Eagles on Friday morning at 11 a.m.