Men's Volleyball Heads Down South For Three Game Road Trip
Loretto, Pa.- Following a win over #14 Ohio State last Friday, the Saint Francis men's volleyball team will head south to North Carolina for three non-conference matches against #2 Hawaii, Queens of Charlotte, and Belmont Abbey.
Game Info.
Friday, Feb. 8 (7 p.m. ET)
vs. #2 Hawaii
Watch |
Live Stats
Saturday, Feb 9 (7 p.m. ET)
vs. Belmont Abbey
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Live Stats
Sunday, Feb 10 (2 p.m. ET)
vs. Queens of Charlotte
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Live Stats
About the Red Flash
Saint Francis is 5-3 overall on the season and 0-1 in the EIVA play, after upsetting #14 Ohio State last weekend in Columbus, Ohio. The win was the first win over a ranked team since the team defeated No. 8 Stanford in 2018. Redshirt junior
Michael Fisher (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley (Pepperdine)) led the way accumulating 27 kills on a .250 hitting percentage. Redshirt junior
Patrick Bryan (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) followed with 14 kills on a .219 hitting clip. Defensively, senior
Cole Thompson (Los Alamitos, Calif./Los Alamitos) provided a spark with 10 digs as redshirt junior
Cole Carver (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) knocked down seven blocks, three which came in key situations down the stretch.
As it stands, the Red flash currently sit in sixth in the conference as George Mason, Penn State and Harvard round out the top three spots in the standings. Conference play will resume next weekend as Harvard and Sacred come into Loretto.
About the Rainbow Warriors
#2 Hawaii is 5-0 to start the early part of the season, sweeping the series against Stanford this past weekend. The Warriors are hitting .470 as a team and have not dropped a set-in wins over, NJIT, Concordia-Irvine, USC, and Stanford. UH and SFU have never played each other, marking the first early matchup between the two programs.
Hawaii respectively leads the country in three of the nine categories, assist per set (13.33), hitting percentage (.493), and kills per set (14.78). Senior Stijn Van Tilburg and Junior Rado Parapunov are the leaders for the Rainbow Warriors, contributing for majority of its offensive success. Van Tilburg leads the team in kills with 58 and a kills per set of 4.46. Parapunov follows with 56 kills and a team-leading .475 hitting percentage. Senior setter Joe Worsley controls the offense attack with 173 assists to go along with NCAA high 11.43 assist per set.
About the Royals
The Royals come into the weekend with a 2-7 overall record and 1-1 conference record on the season, while dropping their last match 3-0 to Belmont Abbey College. The Royals and the Red Flash faced off for the first-time last year, which was the first season of competition for Queens, with the Red Flash winning in straight sets 3-0. Sophomore outside hitter Tristan Santoyo currently leads the Royals in kills on the season with 85 after totaling a team-high 170 last season. The sophomores Ruben Greenstein and Cody Nix command the defense as Greenstein has accumulated 30 blocks while Nix amassed 69 digs
About the Crusaders
Belmont Abbey enters Saturday's contest with a record of 4-2 overall and 1-1 in league action. The Crusaders sweep its matches last week winning 3-2 over Lees-McRae and 3-0 over Queens. Individually, the Crusaders are led by Liam Maxwell who leads the team in kills (96), aces (16), and digs (42) so far. Middle blocker Brian Long trails second in kills (46) with a team leading hitting percentage (.372). William Morris managess the middle with 33 blocks on a 1.57 blocks per set.
For all the latest on Saint Francis men's volleyball, follow @RedFlashMVB on social media and visit sfuathletics.com.
