WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
>> Saint Francis men's volleyball fell to Dominican (N.Y.) in five sets in the first match of the season series Friday night (22-25, 25-18, 22-25, 25-17, 17-19).
>> Andrew Deardorff (21), Brady Stump (16), Cole Dorn (11), and Sam Lane (10) all contributed double-digit kills as a part of the Red Flash's 71 total kills. It ties the 2023 team's 71 posted at LIU on February 18, 2023. Stump, Dorn, and Lane all produced their career-high kill totals in tonight's contest.
>> Richard Kaminski and Hayden Spears were pests for the Red Flash defense. Kaminski recorded a career-high 14 digs and Spears racked up six blocks (five assisted, one solo).
>> Kyle Charles continues his stellar rookie year by surpassing his season best in assists with 62 and helping lead the Red Flash to a .373 hitting percentage. The freshman setter also totaled five digs, two assisted blocks, and two kills.
TURNING POINTS OF THE MATCH
The Chargers got the upper hand to start out the first set, going up 15-13 going into the media timeout. They continued to keep their lead at three with a 19-16 lead out of the break. Saint Francis attempted a comeback, cutting their deficit to 23-22 heading into the final serves. The rally was for now, however, as Dominican scored two straight points to give themselves a 25-22 set one win.
Set two was tightly contested to start out. Saint Francis first took the lead at 6-5, but they couldn't push their advantage above two. The team went into the media timeout with a 15-14 lead. The break helped ignite the Red Flash, as they finished the set with a 10-4 run. Dorn's ace helped the home team take the second set by a final score of 25-18.
The third set started out with the Saint Francis dominating with a 15-10 lead going into the media timeout. They pushed their advantage to 18-13 after the break. Dominican would rally with a 7-2 run to tie things up at 20. They continued their comeback by ending on another 5-2 run to take set three, 25-22. The Chargers finished the set on a 12-4 overall rally.
Set four was commanded by Saint Francis. They got out to an 11-6 lead before Dominican had to call a timeout. The break did not stop the hot streak the Red Flash were on during the set to as high as 22-13. The home team cruised to a 25-17 set four win to send the match to a fifth set.
The momentum picked up in the fourth set carried over to set five, as the Red Flash got out to a blazing 7-4 start thanks to three kills from Deardorff. However, a kill and three-straight service aces from Red Flash transfer helped bring the Chargers back into it with an 8-7 lead. From there, no team would get a lead higher than two the rest of the way. The home team had a chance to close it out when it was 14-13, but couldn't capitalize. The set extended into extra serves and with the score knotted at 17, two kills from Dominican helped them put the match away with a 19-17 set five win.
FLASH MOMENTS
The Red Flash offense had their best offensive output of the match in the second set, compiling 17 kills on an efficient .556 hitting percentage. The trio of Deardorff, Stump, and Dorn racked up a combined 14 of the slams, with Deardorff and Stump each having five.
Another great offensive performance came in the fourth set, as the team registered 14 kills on a .500 hitting percentage. Stump had five of them.
The defense showed out in the second and fourth sets, holding the Chargers' offense to hitting percentages of .172 and .161.
FLASH NUGGETS
Deardorff has notched 20+ kills in three of the last four matches and is up to 129 kills over the last eight contests.
Deardorff and Stump posted six digs apiece with Dorn following behind with five. Dorn added on to his career night with two aces as well.
Along with his defensive prowess, Spears also had five kills on seven attacks. The freshman transfer from Ohio State played in four sets tonight.
Lane was second on the squad with four assisted blocks.
Jackson Decker got his first career start in tonight's match. The sophomore outside hitter accumulated three kills and one dig in one set of action.
NEXT UP FOR FLASH
Men's Volleyball will play the Chargers Saturday afternoon at 5:30.
