MOREHEAD, KY- Freshmen Madi Tyus (Plano, TX/Bishop Lynch) again led the offense, posting 16 kills while Jess Barrett (Broadview Heights, OH/North Royalton) had a season-high 25 digs as Saint Francis took a set off of upstart Wright State in a four-set setback to close the opening day for the Red Flash at the Comfort Inn-Vitational hosted by Morehead State.
 
Tyus again enjoyed a nice offensive day with 16 kills while Nicole Adams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) added 10. Defensively, Daysha Shamlin (Bear, Del./Tower Hill) made the most of her playing time, recording five blocks while Barrett had a season-high 25 digs.  The Red Flash took a Raiders team who won at West Virginia last weekend to four sets before falling 23-25, 25-13, 25-9, 25-18.
 
 
SET ONE

• The Red Flash got out to a hot start thanks to Shamlin who provided two early blocks and a kill to help SFU get out to a 4-1 lead
• The Raiders would rally to tie the match at six and the teams would trade points until they were tied at 11
• SFU broke open another three-point lead thanks to kills from Tyus and Adams to lead 15-12
• Again the Raiders would rally to tie the set at 17 and would take a 22-21 lead, forcing a Red Flash timeout
• The turning point of the set came out of the break, a Nicole Adams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) kill was followed by an ace by Elise Dumouchelle (Ashburn, Va./Broad Run) as SFU won the next three points to lead 24-22
• Adams would finish off the first set with her fifth kill as SFU took set one 25-23

 
SET TWO

• The Raiders started set two strong and never looked back, winning six of the first seven points
• Wright State continued their hot start as SFU didn't string two points together until a pair of Tyus kills made it 12-6
• Another Raider run followed until Alexis Lambert (McKinney, Tx./McKinney-Boyd) got going with a pair of kills that were followed by a Cecilia Esposito (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) kill late in the set
• Wright State closed out the second and evened the match with a 25-13 set two victory

 
SET THREE

• Tyus and Shamlin each had a kill early as SFU jumped out to an early lead
• Wright State answered by winning eight of the next 10 points
• The turning point of the set was the Teddie Sauer service run that included three aces and forced an SFU timeout
• The stoppage couldn't slow down the Raiders' service game
• Shamlin added her third block of the game, a combo with Nicole Adams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) but it wasn't enough as Wright State claimed set three

 
SET FOUR

• The Raiders raced out of the gate, winning seven of the first 10 points
• Kills by Kimmy Sweeney (Broadview Heights, OH/Beaumont School) and Tyus got the Red Flash back within three at 9-6
• An Adams kill and an Adams/Shamlin block got the Red Flash back within three on two different occasions, but could get no closer
• The Raiders created breathing room with three-straight points to go up 16-10 and force an SFU timeout
• A pair of Cecilia Esposito (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) kills stopped the run, but the Red Flash could not get any closer than four
• A late ace from Dumouchelle and a kill from Adams put together a late run for the Flash that wouldn't be enough
• The Raiders closed out the set and the match at 25-18

 
With 16 kills across four sets, Tyus has upped her average to over 3.5 kills per set to lead the team while Barrett's 25 digs ups her average to over 4.2 digs per set to lead the squad. The five blocks by Shamlin were the most by the sophomore since her seven-block game versus Akron last year.  
 
LOOKING AHEAD
The final match of the Inn-Vitational is set for 10:00 a.m. on Saturday against the Mercer Bears. The match will not be streamed by Morehead State but live stats will be provided through Stat Broadcast. The link can be found on the volleyball schedule page.