LORETTO, Pa.- The Saint Francis men's volleyball team returns to the EIVA tournament for the 10th time under head coach Mike Rumbaugh and 13th time in program history. The Red Flash will be in action on Thursday against Princeton at 8 p.m., at Dillion Gymnasium on the campus of Princeton University. 
 
The last time the Red Flash reached the playoffs was back in 2017, as the number two seed, which resulted in a 3-0 sweep to Penn State in EIVA championship game. Saint Francis will enter this year's tournament as the fourth seed.
 
Coach Rumbaugh and his troops finished the 2019 regular season with a 15-13 overall record and 9-5 record in conference play after dropping two matches to Princeton and NJIT to close out the regular season last weekend.
 
All-EIVA Team
Redshirt junior's Michael Fisher (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley (Pepperdine)) and BJ Blair (Bridgewater, NJ/Bridgewater Raritan) garnered EIVA honors on Tuesday as Fisher earned First Team honors and Blair captured Second Team honors. Fisher finished the season with 376 kills, .291 hitting percentage and 4.27 kills per set. The Mechanicsburg native also led the team with 35 aces, 11 of those coming in last weekend's matches against Princeton and NJIT. Blair finished a successful redshirt junior season with 1008 assists, 9.79 assists per set, 149 digs and 46 total blocks. Fisher and Blair were also named to the EIVA All-Academic on Wednesday.
 
Chasing The Title
Saint Francis has continued to trend as the team to watch in the EIVA tournament, making a mark in its last few postseason appearances. In its last two appearances, the Red Flash made a run but fell short in the EIVA championship game. With a bunch of familiar faces from that Saint Francis roster, the Red Flash will forget about the past and look to bring its first EIVA Championship to Loretto.
 
Scouting The Tigers
The Tigers defeated Saint Francis 3-1 in Princeton this past weekend to spoil SFU's five game winning streak and chances to seed third in the tournament. Princeton enters the EIVA semifinal round as the number one seed and tournament host. The Tigers are led by EIVA Coach of the Year, Sam Shweisk and EIVA Player of the Year George Huhmann. The junior opposite hitter averaged top five in seven EIVA statistical categories, total kills (337), kills per set (3.37), hitting percentage (.348), points (403), total blocks (83), points per set (4.10), block assists (74) and total offensive attacks (653). As a team, the Tigers have the top ranked offense, averaging 11.91 kills per set, and .321 hitting percentage. Princeton's roster is littered with postseason experience as the Tigers reached the EIVA tournament a season ago.
 
Follow Along
Video and live stats will be provided for Thursday's match. Flovolleyball is the streaming provider for the tournament, which requires a subscription fee to access. All fees and information can be found at here.

For all the latest on Saint Francis men's volleyball, follow @RedFlashMVB on social media and visit sfuathletics.com.