LORETTO, PA- Saint Francis got double-doubles from Madi Tyus (Plano, TX/Bishop Lynch) and Alexis Lambert (McKinney, Tx./McKinney-Boyd) and nearly a third from Nicole Adams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) in a four-set victory over Robert Morris in the annual Side Out Cancer game and the SFU home opener.

McMULLEN REACTION

"Tonight we did the little things really well," head coach Sara McMullen said. "And we had a great home environment that I think the team fed off of and we used it to our advantage tonight."

BOX SCORE LEADERS
The Red Flash were led tonight by a trio of attackers in double digits. Nicole Adams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) had a match-high 16 kills and narrowly missed out on a double-double with nine digs and added four block assists. Madi Tyus (Plano, TX/Bishop Lynch) added 15 kills to go with 18 digs and an ace while Alexis Lambert (McKinney, Tx./McKinney-Boyd) had 13 kills to go with 18 digs and 5 block assists. Defensively, Jess Barrett (Broadview Heights, OH/North Royalton) had a team high 20 digs but the Red Flash were in full force on the block, totaling 10.5 team blocks on the night. Daysha Shamlin (Bear, Del./Tower Hill) led the way with six block assists and a solo block but four different players had at least three block assists. 

For Robert Morris, the duo of Alyson Londot and Emma Granger led the way with each getting credited with 10 kills. Nikolette Zanolli stepped in at libero to card a match-high 21 digs for the Colonial defense while Taylor Lord and Skylar Clements each recorded three block assists. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST SET RECAP

• After the teams traded the first 14 points of the set, the Red Flash turned on the afterburners, winning 9 of the next 11 points to take a 16-9 lead and force a RMU timeout, Tyus had three kills during the run while Shamlin had two blocks
• The Red Flash never let up after the run, answering Robert Morris points with kills from Lambert, Sophia Esposito (Coraopolis, PA/Montour (Gardner-Webb)) and Nicole Adams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) to grow the lead to 10 at 23-13
• After a Robert Morris block and a Taylor Lord kill, the Red Flash ended the set on a Tyus cross-court kill to close out the set at 25-15

SECOND SET RECAP

• The Red Flash took control of the second set early, as SFU ran off five-straight points, four off Nicole Adams' (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) serve to lead 7-3, the freshman started the run with a kill and the SFU defense forced a trio of Colonial attack errors
• Tyus would total two more kills as the SFU lead grew to 11-5 and force the Colonials to take a timeout
• SFU would maintain a five-point lead for much of the set as the Red Flash would answer a Colonial point with one of their own, preventing a run
• Jess Barrett (Broadview Heights, OH/North Royalton) unleashed a service ace for the Red Flash breaking up a RMU run
• Adams added two kills down the stretch and the SFU defense got RMU scrambling, leading to an attack error as the Red Flash took set two at 25-19

THIRD SET RECAP

• The teams were dead even to start the third set with neither team gaining more than a two point lead for much of the set, with five ties and four leading changes across the set
• SFU took their first two-point lead of the set on the second of two-straight Shamlin-Lambert blocks as part of a 4-0 run to erase an early RMU lead
• The Colonials would get on a run midway through the set off a pair of Granger kills to flip an 11-9 deficit into a 13-11 lead. 
• RMU would force a Red Flash timeout by taking a 16-13 advantage off a Lord ace
• The Red Flash would battle back to tie the match at 19 and looked to have a 20-19 advantage, but a timely challenge from RMU flipped the point to the Colonials
• RMU would win the next four points to go up 23-19, the Red Flash would get no closer than three the rest of the set to fight off elimination at 25-20

FOURTH SET RECAP

• SFU took any drama of a comeback out of the set early as the Red Flash scored eight of the first nine points of the set
• Adams and Shamlin combined on trio of blocks during the run while Adams and Tyus each added kills
• Robert Morris would chip away at the lead, forcing a timeout by scoring four-straight and cutting the SFU lead to 13-9
• The Red Flash wouldn't let RMU get any closer, pulling away from the Colonials by winning 9 of 13 points
• Five different players had a kill during the run which peaked at a 24-14 SFU lead
• Robert Morris would fight off four match points before a long rally ended on a over pass from Jess Barrett (Broadview Heights, OH/North Royalton) that the RMU defense couldn't handle

In addition to the first NEC victory of the season for the Red Flash, the volleyball team raised over $500 dollars as part of their annual Dig Pink!/ Sideout Cancer game. All proceeds to the American Volleyball Coaches' Association charities to combat cancer. 

LOOKING AHEAD
SFU will look to build off the home momentum with the Brooklyn schools coming to town. LIU Brooklyn is up first on Friday night with a 7 p.m. first serve scheduled from DeGol Arena