LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis men's volleyball team (1-4, 0-0) fell to King (2-0, 0-0) in the second match of the series on Saturday in five sets.

Saint Francis 2, King 3 (25-20, 22-25, 26-24, 25-27, 10-15)

Records: Saint Francis (1-4, 0-0), King (2-0, 0-0)
Location: DeGol Arena (Loretto, Pa.)

COACH RUMBAUGH'S COMMENTS

"We are still trying to find ourselves this season. I can handle losses when we put the effort, attitude, and support in, like today. I'm proud that we were able to run the middle to death today, and I'm happy with what Josh (Blair) and Zac (Cabral) were able to do throughout the entire match."

HOW IT HAPPENED

SET ONE

·         Saint Francis began the day by building a 6-3 lead.

·         Though the Red Flash held the lead for the majority of the first set, King got as close as one at 19-18 and 20-19.

·         Joshua Blair led SFU with seven kills in the first set, and a block by Roman Szwabinsky and Zac Cabral sealed the set.

SET TWO

·         The second set started close as the teams were tied at three before Saint Francis built a narrow 9-7 lead.

·         The teams traded points and the lead throughout much of the remainder of the set until a 21-18 King lead forced a Red Flash timeout.

·         Following the timeout, Saint Francis got as close as two at 23-21, but the Tornado ultimately took set two.

SET THREE

·         King scored the first five points of set three to force a Saint Francis timeout.

·         The Red Flash rallied out of the timeout to tie the set at eight.

·         SFU took its first lead of the set at 19-18 on a service ace by Jason Najm and took a 20-18 lead into a King timeout.

·         The Tornado tied the set at 22, 23 and 24 before an ace from Cabral won the set 26-24.

SET FOUR

·         King jumped out to early leads of 4-1 and 8-4.

·         The Red Flash put together a 5-0 run to take a 9-8 lead, SFU's first of the fourth set.

·         The set remained close throughout as the teams were tied at 23, but King took set four 27-25.

SET FIVE

·         Set five was close until King went up 11-8, forcing a Saint Francis timeout.

·         The Tornado held a 14-10 lead and called a timeout of its own, scoring the next point to win the match.

STATS

·         Blair picked up a game-high 23 kills, along with Cabral adding 15.

·         Szwabinsky also picked up a game-high in assists with 59.

·         Cabral led the match again in block assists, this time with six. Daniel Fry and Szwabinsky each added four.

·         SFU had the advantage in kills (64-44), assists (60-40), total blocks (9.5-6.0), and digs (37-35). SFU also committed less attack errors (23-22) and registered a higher hitting percentage (.318-.171).

·         King was cleaner in the match's serving, only committing 14 service errors to SFU's 30.

GAME NOTES

·         Blair recorded a career-high 23 kills, surpassing his previous career-high of 17, set last season against King.

·         Cabral set a career-high in kills with 15, besting his previous career-high of 11 which he set at Queens on Jan. 15.

·         The all-time series moves to 3-2 in favor of Saint Francis.

UP NEXT

The Red Flash will host an invitational next weekend, welcoming NJIT, Loyola, and No. 5 Lewis to town. Saint Francis will take on Lewis at 1:30 on Friday (Jan. 29), and Loyola at 2:30 on Saturday (Jan. 30). The matches can be found on NEC Front Row.

Follow Saint Francis Men's Volleyball on Twitter and Instagram to get up-to-date information and a behind-the-scenes look at the Red Flash.

To learn more about Saint Francis University, visit francis.edu.