Box Score

Loretto, Pa- The Saint Francis men's volleyball team concluded its first game in Indiana with a loss in straight sets (16-25, 18-25, 17-25) to 15th ranked Ball State at Worthen Arena.
 
Saint Francis dropped to 11-9 overall with the loss. The Cardinals record improved to 11-10.
 
First Set

• Saint Francis takes an early 8-6 lead in the first set off three Ball State errors and a kill from Cole Thompson (Los Alamitos, Calif./Los Alamitos).
• The Red Flash extended its lead to 9-7 before three straight Red Flash errors propelled the Cardinals to a 10-9 lead.
• Michael Fisher (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley (Pepperdine)) put the Red Flash within one at 14-13, but a service error helped Ball State take a 15-13 and force SFU to a timeout.
• Ball State continued to apply pressure out of the timeout, converting on five of the next eight points to lead 20-15. SFU used its final timeout of the set.
• The Cardinals managed to hold the Red Flash away by a significant margin for the rest of the set. Ball State hit .364 for the set compared to the Red Flash .000.
• Set Score: BSU 25, SFU 16- BSU leads 1-0

 
Second Set

• The Cardinals got off to a solid start to lead 7-3 on an ace from Matt Szews, forcing a Saint Francis timeout.
• The Red Flash rattled five of the next seven points to tie that match at 8-8. Evan Feltz (Westerville, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales) knocked down two kills on the run.
• Neither team would lead by more than two until back-to-back kills and an attack error gave Ball State a 15-11 edge.
• Ball State continued to steadily build its lead to 18-15 which proved to be a bit too much for the Red Flash who only managed to only get the score back with as close as 21-17 before errors and a Isaacson Quinn kill closed out the second set.
• Set Score: BSU 25, SFU 18- BSU leads 2-0

 
Third Set

• The Cardinals grab a hold of the third set with the first four points of the set and lead 7-3.
• After a Feltz kill, the Red Flash rallied to close the gap to one at 7-6, but Ball State rebooted once again with four straight points to lead 12-8 and force SFU to a timeout.
• Out of the timeout, errors marred the Red Flash and helped Ball State continue to build its lead to as high as seven, the margin of the final score of the set.
• Set Score: BSU 25, SFU 17- BSU wins 3-0

 
Game Notes

• Fisher led the Red Flash for the 14th straight night in the kills category with nine while hitting .217 (9-4-23). He also added one ace along with a team-leading seven digs.
• Feltz had five kills while hitting .050 (5-4-20) along with an ace and six digs.
• Defensively, Cole Carver (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) contributed with three kills on eight attempts while knocking down a team-high two blocks.
• The Cardinals held a significant edge in hitting percentage with a .311 mark (32-9-74) to the Red Flash .011 (25-23-87).
• Ball State's Szews led the Cardinals with 9 kills on 22 swings. He also added three blocks with eight digs.

 
Up Next
The Red Flash face off with #13 Purdue Fort Wayne tomorrow at 7 p.m. to conclude their non-conference schedule.