PHILADELPHIA, PA- The Saint Francis Red Flash heads east to the City of Brotherly Love for the Valley Forge Invite hosted by Penn. 

The Red Flash are coming off a tough, five-set loss at Duquesne on Tuesday. Three players: Madi Tyus (Plano, TX/Bishop Lynch), Kimmy Sweeney (Broadview Heights, OH/Beaumont School) and Alexis Lambert (McKinney, Tx./McKinney-Boyd) each collected double doubles. This weekend SFU will take on Lehigh at noon on Friday and Radford at 3:30. They will wrap up the tourney with the host Quakers at 10 a.m. on Saturday. 

ABOUT THE RED FLASH
Saint Francis comes into the weekend in search of their first victory after playing a gauntlet non-conference schedule to date. Offensively, Madi Tyus (Plano, TX/Bishop Lynch) leads the club and is second in the NEC in both total kills (104) and kills per set (3.47). The freshman was just shy of a 20-20 performance on Tuesday, finishing with a team high 19 kills and 20 digs. She's joined up front by Nicole Adams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) who led all attackers on Tuesday night with a .345 hitting percentage on her way to a 13-kill night. She's had 13 kills in each of her last two matches while hitting .370. Defensively, Jess Barrett (Broadview Heights, OH/North Royalton) is fourth in the NEC with a dig per set average of 3.77 and her 113 digs are second in the conference. 

ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS
Lehigh comes into the weekend undefeated at 7-0 on the season sporting wins over Duquesne and Rutgers and have only dropped three sets this season. The Mountain Hawks were picked second in the Patriot League and Ana Spangenberg was named pre-season All-Patriot League. The 'Hawks sport a balanced attack that features two players averaging over three kills per set and two more at over two kills per set. Emily Develle leads the defense at 3.67 digs per set while both middle blockers, Emily Poole and Lauren Bright average over a block per set. 

ABOUT RADFORD
The Highlanders come into the Invite at 5-1 on the season with their only setback against Northwestern State last weekend. Radford was picked to finish second in the Big South after winning the tournament last year. Setter Haley Kleespies and outside hitter Stephanie Neast earned pre-season all-conference nods. They sport a balanced offense with three players averaging over two kills per set. Mallory McKnight is third in the Big South in hitting percentage at 323. Grace Green headlines the defense at nearly four digs per set, good for sixth in the Big South. 

ABOUT THE QUAKER
Penn comes into the weekend having split their first four matches of the season. They were picked to finish fifth in the Ivy League after going 12-11 and 7-7 a year ago. Raven Sulamon leads the teams with just over three kills per set. Taylor Cooper's 426 hitting percentage leads the team and is third in the Ivy League. Parker Jones is the defensive stalwart, with 2.5 digs per set to lead the Quakers. At the net, Daniela Fornaciari leads the team with nearly a block per set. 

FOLLOW ALONG
The Ivy League Network merged with ESPN+ as their streaming platform and will broadcast the Penn Match on Saturday morning. ESPN + does offer a free seven-day trial and is $4.99 per month. Penn will provide live stats at least for the Penn Match, those links are available on the volleyball schedule page. 

LOOKING AHEAD
The Red Flash close out the non-conference slate with a trip to Miami of Ohio. Saint Francis will take on Oakland (MI) and Miami (OH) next Saturday.