Red Flash Volleyball Travels To The Windy City For Its Last Regular Season Away Match

Women's Volleyball | 11/6/2025 9:30:00 AM

OPENING SERVE VS CHICAGO STATE
Saint Francis and Mercyhurst will have their 7th and 8th meeting of all time, dating back to 1995. After 2005, the Red Flash and the Cougars took a break from facing each other until Chicago State joined the NEC on July 1st of last year. In the two matches from 2024, Saint Francis lost both matches, including a match that went to a hard-fought five sets. Korrin Burns recorded 27 kills, and Alexandra Sappia registered a career high of 55 assists in the aided five sets. The Red Flash are looking for their first in conference win against the Cougars.

THE WORD ON THE COUGARS
Chicago left off with a 19-10 season in 2024 but kicked off this year with a 1-21 record. The Cougars have split against New Haven but lost twice against LIU, CCSU, Le Moyne, FDU, and Stonehill. They brought back a key opposite hitter, Nayella George and middle blocker, Graci Littlejohn. George currently leads her team in kills (176), aces (33), and second in digs (178). Littlejohn, the senior, is leading her team in blocks with 80 on the season. The Cougars brought in a freshman defensive specialist, Alyssa Ferreira. She is leading in digs with 258, third in assists (31), and fourth in aces (17).

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 for its last regular season series against Le Moyne on November 14 and 15. Saint Francis will be celebrating its senior night on Saturday the 15.

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). With the season almost over , she has been burning the competition, collecting 472 total kills and 203 digs. Burns leads the NEC in kills per set (5.24) and points per set (5.71). She is currently second in kills per set, third in kills, total points, and fifth in points per set 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 is continuing the 2025 season with 188 kills, 65 blocks, 39 digs, and 26 service aces. She is second in the NEC in hitting percentage with .390. McClure is ranked 33rd 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) in the NEC. 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 954 assists and collected 49 service aces, both of which are number one in the NEC charts. Sappia is now seventh with aces, ninth with total assists, and 10th overall in the nation with assists per set.

NEC HONORS
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 seventh time this season. It is the 11th time that she secured Player of the Week and the 14th time she received a weekly conference award in her career.

Burns delivered a stellar performance to cap off the three-match stretch, amassing an impressive 66 kills to lead Saint Francis to two victories and a hard-fought five-set battle. She set the tone early against Mercyhurst, posting 28 kills, 11 digs, and a hitting percentage of .457 to power the Red Flash to a win. Burns carried that momentum through the weekend series, showcasing her all-around game with 38 more kills, 21 digs, and seven assisted blocks. With her dominant showing, Burns notched her 22nd career match with 20 or more kills and recorded her 23rd career double-double.

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 10th award for this category surpassing Megan Taliaferro as the program record holder since 1997.

Burns now holds third place in NEC history with 11 Player of the Week awards. She sits ahead of Martina Wagner (10) and Cristina Pintilie (10), and behind Annika Foit (15) and Sarah Ciszek (15).

This is the 36th 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 Sappia were both named Prime Performers again. Sappia showcased her exceptional play making ability over the weekend, totaling a crazy 144 assists across the three matches. She was the driving force behind the Red Flash's victory over Mercyhurst on Tuesday (42 assists) and the LIU match on Friday (53 assists). Sappia also made her presence felt in every facet of the game, adding 29 digs and eight service aces. Including a six ace game that ties her for tenth place in the Saint Francis program history. This is the 17th time that she has had a double-double throughout her career.

ADDING TO PROGRAM MILESTONES
Burns surpassed the 1,000-kill milestone as she adds 66 kills to her previous count, bringing her to a total of 1,337. 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 kills in a career with 1,427. Burns is sitting in fifth place in the Saint Francis program record with the most kills in her career. She is only three kills behind Nichole Hyer (2001-04) and 58 kills behind Anne Roosevelt 2003-06).

Sappia set her way past the 2,000-assist milestone. She added 144 more assists to her total, which brings her to 2,404 total career assists and is still climbing. Sappia 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 412 assists away from Kelly Snee (2001-03) who holds second place with the most assists at 2,816. Sappia passes Lauren Wingard in most career service aces (132) at fifth place in program history. She now holds the new fifth place record with 140, sitting three aces behind Nichole Hyer (2001-04).

McClure is currently sitting in first place in Saint Francis women's volleyball history for the best hitting percentage throughout her career. She surpassed Keshia Gibbs (2005-08) at .209 and now holds the record with a .296 percentage.

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 159 digs, 150 kills, and 37 blocks so far this season. Hailey Atkins has registered 83 digs and 28 assists.

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 166 kills and 54 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 173 digs so far in the season, recording a Red Flash personal best of 16 digs vs LIU.

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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