Saint Francis Volleyball Heads Into Heated Matchup Against FDU

Women's Volleyball | 10/23/2025 10:00:00 AM

OPENING SERVE VS FDU
Saint Francis and FDU will have their 70th and 71st meeting of all time. Back in 2023, the Red Flash swept the Knights 2-0 on the road, with the help from Korrin Burns program record of 34 kills. Saint Francis is looking to continue in their all-time series and add two more tallies to their win column. This will be a battle between two of the top three ranked teams in the NEC.

THE WORD ON THE KNIGHTS
The Knights are entering this weekend with a 14-8 record, after ending the 2024 season 22-9. So far in conference play, FDU is 8-1, beating New Haven, Stonehill, and Chicago State twice, splitting with Mercyhurst, and beating Le Moyne once. Currently, the Knights have two main seniors who are leading in categories. Kylie Nott sits first for her team with 56 blocks but also is third in kills (161) and service aces (11). Notts is third in the NEC for hitting percentage (.355) and was on the All-NEC second team during the 2024 season. Kyndal Ganoe leads her team in digs with 269 on the year and fourth place with assists (80). Ganoe in second in the NEC for digs with 3.84 per set.

PRESEASON POLL
Saint Francis women's volleyball was picked third in the Northeast Conference (NEC) Preseason Poll. LIU earned four first-place votes and earned the distinction of being the preseason favorite. FDU garnered the three other first-place nods to finish in second. After the Red Flash in third place, the defending NEC Champions, Chicago State, Mercyhurst, Stonehill, CCSU, New Haven, and Le Moyne round out the nine-team poll. New Haven is in its first year in the NEC, and along with Mercyhurst, is not eligible for postseason play.

NEXT TIME OUT
The Red Flash are back in DeGol Arena for another two-game series for Halloween weekend against LIU. This will also be its dig pink game, as the Red Flash celebrates breast cancer awareness month during its final October game on Friday.

RETURNERS TO TALK ABOUT
Korrin Burns returns for her final year as the team's top kills per set leader (4.07) after ranking second in the NEC with kills (342) and sixth in service aces (0.45). To start this season, she has been burning the competition, collecting 363 total kills and 153 digs. Burns also leads the NEC in kills per set (5.26) and points per set (5.67). She is currently second in kills per set, third in kills, sixth in points per set, and eighth in points in the nation.

Kori McClure also registered 215 kills, coming in third in hitting percentage (.313) in 2024. Both of these players earned All-NEC first team looking to come back this season with a clear attack. McClure started the 2025 season off with 144 kills, 51 blocks, and 26 digs. She is second in the NEC in hitting percentage with .423. McClure is ranked 15th in the nation due to her dominant swing.

Alexandra Sappia returns to collect more aces as she paced service aces per set (0.54), and she ranked second in assists (812). She was also announced to the All-NEC second team in 2024. Sappia showed out over the last two months, dishing out points as she gathered 722 assists and collected 35 service aces, which both are number one in the NEC charts. Sappia is now 17th with assists and 17th overall in the nation with aces.

NEC HONORS
Korrin Burns (Clarion, Pa./Clarion Area), a member of the Saint Francis women's volleyball team, has been named the NEC/Molten Women's Volleyball Player of the Week for the fifth time this season alone. It is the ninth time that she earned Player of the Week and the 12th time she received a weekly conference award in her career.

Burns capped off the three-game span with an impressive 64 kills, aiding Saint Francis to continue its strong start in conference play with a 7-0 record. She averaged a hitting percentage of .331. In addition to her powerful offense, she contributed significantly on defense, recording four solo blocks to help secure the team's victories against New Haven. Burns also recorded 15 digs during the several game stretch. With these three games, Burns holds 19 career games with 20+ kills.

The senior was also named Player of the Week two times in 2023, once during August and again in November. Then two more times during 2024, in September and October. Burns now earns her ninth award for this category surpassing Megan Taliaferro as the program record holder since 1997.

Burns now holds fifth place in NEC history with nine Player of the Week awards. She sits behind Martina Wagner (10), Cristina Pintilie (10), Annika Foit (15), and Sarah Ciszek (15).

This is the 34th time that a Red Flash women's volleyball player has won Player of the Week, and Burns is the 12th different player to earn the distinction. She surpassed Skyler Eicher for the most Player of the Week awards in a season in program history with five.

Burns and Alexandra Sappia were both named Prime Performers. Sappia racked up a total of 123 assists over the Tuesday and weekend match ups, including an impressive 42-assist effort in the Red Flash's victory over Mercyhurst. She also contributed 13 digs and five service aces. With these performances, Sappia has now recorded 11 games this season with 40 or more assists.

BURNING PAST MILESTONES
Burns surpassed the 1,000-kill milestone as she adds 50 kills to her previous count, bringing her to a total of 1,228. She collected her 1,000th kill during the first game against Rutgers on her first kill of the night. Burns added her name in with seven other record holding women. Currently, Kristin Buter (2005-08) holds the most kill record of 1,427.

Alexandra Sappia set her way past the 2,000-assist milestone. She added 81 more assists to her total, which brings her to 2,172 total career assists and is still climbing. Sappia now passes Amelia Metzler (2015-19) who held fifth place with 1,883 assists, Alanna Blenkarn (2011-14) who held the fourth spot with 2,123 assists, and Kierstin Kiser (2009-12) who held the third spot with 2,137 assists. Sappia now sits in the third spot and is looking to continue moving up in the top 10 in career assists. She is 644 assists away from Kelly Snee (2001-03) who holds second place with the most assists with 2,816.

WELCOME TO THE LO'
Two freshmen continued to help the Red Flash gain two more wins: Gwen Atkins (Morristown, N.J./Morristown) and Hailey Atkins (Morristown, N.J./Morristown). Gwen Atkins has collected 133 digs, 116 kills, and 28 blocks so far this season. Hailey Atkins has registered 58 digs this season

Nevaeh Ingram (Rocky Mount, N.C./Northern Nash) had her collegiate debut against New Hampshire. She recorded 11 service aces and is still looking to gather more.

In addition, sophomore Paloma Gonzalez Jaramillo (Coahuila, Mexico/Bishop Lynch) got her first Saint Francis start against UAlbany. During the 2024 season she played for Stonehill and collected 140 kills and 36 digs. This season she started for the Red Flash bringing in 15 kills and 48 digs, including her first double-double of her career in a Saint Francis win against Robert Morris.

Sophomore Elsa Richards (Wilmington, Mass./Essex North Shore Technical and Agricultural) came from Adelphi. Richards had her Saint Francis debut in the win against Mercyhurst.

Graduate student Chandler Alter (Powder Springs, Ga./McEachern) transferred from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She finished the 2024 season with 244 digs and 19 aces. Alter collected 120 digs so far in the season, recording a Red Flash personal best of 14 digs vs Duquesne.

Staying with the team but from a viewpoint, is graduate assistant Raegan Rosi.

ABOUT THE COACH
Sara Spielvogel begins her tenth season in Loretto. She earned her first overall winning season in 2023, going 15-11 with a 10-4 record in conference play. Saint Francis earned two players on the First-Team All-Conference Team and made the NEC tournament for the third consecutive year. In her first season in Loretto, Spielvogel guided the team to wins over Buffalo of the Mid-American Conference and Iona in non-conference play. She picked up her first NEC victory in a triumph over FDU. In her first season, the Red Flash finished third in the NEC in digs and digs per set and had a pair of attackers record over 200 kills. Prior to Saint Francis, Spielvogel sent a season on the staff at the College of Wooster. The Fighting Scots had a four-win improvement from the previous season and had their best start to a season since 1969.

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