Women's Volleyball | 11/20/2025 12:02:00 PM

The Saint Francis women's volleyball team earned two NEC end of the season awards and had three players claim a spot on the All-NEC teams. Head coach Sara Spielvogel was named NEC Coach of the Year, Korrin Burns (Clarion, Pa./Clarion Area) was named NEC Player of the Year and to the All-NEC first team, Alexandra Sappia (West Palm Beach, Fla./Suncoast Community) was named to the All-NEC first team, and Kori McClure (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville North) was named to the All-NEC second team.  

Spielvogel has now claimed Coach of the Year twice, once in 2021 when she led the Red Flash with a 9-5 conference record and now as she leads them 14-2 in NEC play. Since 2021, Spielvogel has produced a winning conference record going 53-19. She is currently in her best season with an overall record of 19-8. She only needs two more wins to hit the 100-win milestone in her coaching career. Spielvogel is looking to claim both of those wins in the Championship tournament this weekend. Once she hits this milestone, she will be the first women's volleyball head coach to hit 100 wins in their career at Saint Francis.  

Burns collected her major award and All-NEC first team after finishing her regular season with 542 kills, 234 digs, 37 blocks, and 26 service aces. The senior outside hitter played all 27 matches and 103 sets. Burns leads the NEC in kills per set (5.26) and points per set (5.72). She is currently third in total kills, fourth in kills per set, total points, and fifth in points per set in the nation. This is the third year in a row that she earned All-NEC first team and dating back to 2010, she is the first women's volleyball player to earn this distinction three years in a row.  

Throughout the season, Burns has registered 10 Prime Performers and eight NEC/Molten Player of the Week awards. She recorded 15 games with 20+ kills including a 30-kill home match against Siena that broke the home program record. Burns also has 12 games where she dug up a double-double in kills and digs.  

Burns surpassed the 1,000-kill milestone earlier this season and continued to add program records to her resume. She is sitting in first place in Red Flash history with the most kills in a single season with 542. She passes Roosevelt, who previously held the record in 2006 with 486 kills. Burns also sits in second place with the most total attacks in a season with 1,209. She passed Roosevelt who held the third spot with 1,134 (2004) and Miller with 1,159 (2009). Burns sits only 85 attacks away from taking another first-place program record. Overall, in her career, she is only 20 kills away from being the all-time leader in kills in program history. Kristin Buter (2005-08) currently holds the most kills in a career with 1,427. 

After earning 11 Prime Performers, Sappia was named to the All-NEC first team. This season she racked up 1,129 assists and 61 aces, which are both first on the NEC charts. Sappia is now fourth with total aces, fifth with assists per set, total assists, and seventh with aces per set in the nation. Last season, she was named to the All-NEC second team.  

Sappia finished the season with 17 games where she has 40 or more assists. She has several 50+ assist matches, including 55 assists in the 3-2 win over Siena. Sappia also had eight games where she recorded a double-double with assists and digs. She registered a career high of six aces in the 3-0 sweep of Le Moyne on November 11.  

The junior setter passed the 2,000-assist milestone earlier this season as well. Sappia currently sits in the third spot and is looking to continue moving up in the top 10 in career assists. She is 237 assists away from Kelly Snee (2001-03) who holds second place with the most assists at 2,816. With the sweep of last weekend's matches, Sappia passes Alanna Blenkarn (2014) who has 1,111 assists. She now claims second place with 1,129. Sappia sits behind Kelly Snee (2002) who holds the program record with 1,389 assists. Sappia also jumped past Lauren Wingard in most career service aces (132) at fifth place and Nichole Hyer (2001-04) in fourth place in program history. She now holds the new fourth place record with 152, sitting four aces behind Kirstin Buter (2005-08). 

The senior middle blocker, McClure, was named to the All-NEC second after three Prime Performers and one Molten/NEC Player of the Week award. She finished the regular season with 211 kills, 72 blocks, 52 digs, and 33 service aces. She is second in the NEC in hitting percentage with .381. McClure is ranked 42nd in the nation due to her dominant swing. In 2024, she was named to the All-NEC first team. 

McClure is currently sitting in first place in Saint Francis women's volleyball history for the best hitting percentage within a single season and throughout her career. In this season, she has converted on 205 of 400 attempts, giving her a hitting percentage of .398. She beat her previous record and Jaclyn Kessler's record of a .313 percentage. When looking at her career as a whole, McClure surpassed Keshia Gibbs (2005-08) at .209 and now holds the record with a .300 hitting percentage. 

The Red Flash are battling in the NEC semifinals tomorrow against FDU at 2 p.m. If the women's volleyball team wins the match, they will advance to the finals on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Red Flash will face the winner of LIU and Mercyhurst.