Fairfield, CT- The Saint Francis men's volleyball team extends its winning streak to two games with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 27-25, 25-20) victory at Sacred Heart Sunday afternoon.
 
Saint Francis improves to 13-11 on the season and 7-3 in EIVA action. Sacred Heart falls to 3-13 overall and 1-9 in conference play.
 
First Set

• Sacred Heart sped out to a 5-1 lead before Cole Thompson (Los Alamitos, Calif./Los Alamitos) picked up his first kill to put the run to a halt for Saint Francis.
• Saint Francis was able to close the gap to about five points but the Pioneers didn't let the Red Flash get any closer in the middle of the set.
• The Red Flash mounted a comeback down 18-13 with three in the row after Evan Feltz (Westerville, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales) picked up a kill and two Sacred Heart service errors.
• Feltz ended up putting the game within one at 21-20 with an ace, but the Pioneers rattled off four of the next seven and took set one.
• Set Score: SHU 25, SFU 23- SHU leads 1-0

 Second Set

• The second set was tightly contested throughout as neither team led by more than three the entire duration of the frame.
• SFU lead 13-10 but a kill by Emerson Waumans and two Red Flash attack errors knotted the score at 13-13.
• Both teams continued to exchange leads and traded point for point until a kill and an attack error pushed the Pioneers ahead at 18-17 and forced SFU to a timeout.
• Out of the timeout, both teams managed to keep things close, but an attack error and kill by Patrick Bryan (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) gave SFU the final two points it needed to win.
• Set Score: SFU 25, SHU 23- Matched tied 1-1

 Third Set

• Saint Francis took an early lead in the third set at 7-4 after a Michael Fisher (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley (Pepperdine)) kill.
• Four straight Red Flash errors allowed Sacred Heart to jump ahead at 8-7, but Thompson tied the score at eight with a monster kill.
• The Red Flash put together a run to take a 13-9 lead after four attack errors by the Pioneers, but Sacred Heart responded with four-straight points to cut the deficit to one.
• The teams essentially traded points from there to put the score at 23-22 Saint Francis.
• The Red Flash had three chances to close the set, but two Pioneers kills stalled the set. A Fisher kill and Bryan ace eventually helped the Red Flash take the third set.  
• Set Score: SFU 27, SHU 25- SFU leads 2-1 

Fourth Set

• Sacred Heart came out on fire in set four and put together two separate three-point runs to lead 8-5.
• The Red Flash scored three of the next four to pull back within one, but the Pioneers responded quickly to retake a two-point lead at 11-9.
• The middle of the set featured a point for point battle until the Red Flash broke away on a four-point spree to take 17-15 lead.
• Errors marred the Pioneers the rest of way and helped SFU continue to build its lead to as high as five, the margin of the final score of the set.
• Set Score: SFU 25, SHU 20- SFU wins 3-1

Game Notes

• Thompson led Saint Francis with 17 kills and hit at a .393 clip (17-6-28). He also contributed with an ace, two digs and two blocks.
• Bryan followed with a double digit kill performance of 14 on 34 swings (.147). He also had two aces and three digs.  
• Fisher finished with seven kills, four digs and two blocks.
• BJ Blair (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater Raritan) paced the offense with 47 assists.
• Joshua Blair (Matterson. Illnois/Marian Catholic ) and Cole Carver (Hershey, Pa./Hershey) manned the middle with four blocks apiece.
• As it stands, the Red Flash and George Mason are tied for third place in the conference with four conference matches remaining.

 
Up Next
The Red Flash host their final two home matches of the season against George Mason and Charleston next Friday and Saturday. Friday's match will begin at 7 p.m., as Saturday's match is slated for 4 p.m.