Men's Volleyball | 2/19/2026 9:35:00 AM
Friday, February 20 | Catawba | Loretto, Pa. | DeGol Arena | 7 p.m. | LIVE STATS | WATCH LIVE
Saturday, February 21 | Catawba | Loretto, Pa. | DeGol Arena | 6 p.m. | LIVE STATS | WATCH LIVE
OPENING SERVE VS CATAWBA
Saint Francis will meet the Indians of Catawba for the first time in program history. Catawba went 13-12 last year, including a 3-1 loss to Hawaii but made it to the IVA Championships. The Indians lost to the fifth seed 3-1 to conclude their season. The Red Flash are looking to take a 2-0 lead in the series following the end of the weekend.
THE WORD ON THE INDIANS
The Indians are going into the weekend with a 5-4 overall record. Catawba is on a three-game winning streak after beating Benedict in three straight sets on Thursday, Tusculum in five sets on Friday, and Newberry in three straight sets Tuesday. During the season-opening match, the Indians took on #19 George Mason and defeated the Patriots in five sets. George Mason took the first and third set 25-20 and 25-23, whereas Catawba took the second and fourth set each 25-22, leading to a final 15-point set where the Indians took won 15-12. Redshirt freshman, Justin Arrowood, is currently leading in kills with 133. Defensively, sophomore Max Adkisson, leads with digs with 81, and freshman Logan Neitzel, leads the team with 33 blocks.
PRESEASON POLL
Saint Francis men's volleyball was picked to tie first in the NEC Preseason Poll. Daemen earned three first-place votes while the Red Flash claimed two. LIU and FDU both took a first-place nod to finish in third and fourth. Following behind, the newly added teams, Manhattan and UMES finish fifth and sixth. Rounding out the poll was D'Youville in seventh.
NEXT TIME OUT
The men's team faces conference opponent LIU in Brooklyn, N.Y. on February 27 and 28. Saint Francis will then spend spring break in California to play Stanford.
RETURNERS TO TALK ABOUT
Brady Stump returns as one of the team's top leaders in kills (266), digs (99), blocks (40), and aces (25). During the 2025 campaign, the All-NEC first team outside hitter was seventh in kills per set, eighth in points per set, and 10th in hitting percentage in the NEC. So far this season, the NEC Player of the Week has recorded 110 kills, 34 digs, 13 aces, and eight blocks.
Sam Lane also registered 135 kills and 65 blocks, coming in eighth in blocks per set in 2025. He was named to the All-NEC second team due to his dominant blocking abilities. Lane registered a season high of five blocks against Erskine back in April. In 2026, the senior collected 39 kills, 19 blocks, 10 digs, and a hitting percentage of .366.
Kyle Charles returns to collect more assists as he paced assists per set (9.97) in the NEC. He was announced as the NEC Rookie of the Year and All-NEC first team in 2025. The sophomore racked up three double double and had a season best of 62 assists versus Dominican. Charles collected 887 assists, 106 digs, 46 blocks, and 43 kills. The setter is starting 2026 off with 233 assists, 29 digs, 12 kills, and nine blocks.
Back as a graduate student, Richard Kaminski continues to look for digs in the backrow. The libero recorded 10+ digs seven times, accumulating 142 digs and 37 assists in the previous season with the Red Flash. Kaminski finished third in the NEC with total digs and seventh in digs per set. He registered 28 digs and nine assists for the Red Flash to start the new season.
Nathan Zini returns after a season ending injury to compete in the 2026 campaign. In 2024, the opposite hitter was named NEC Player of the Year, All-NEC first team, and AVCA All-American honorable mention. He registered 410 kills, 125 digs, 63 aces, and 31 blocks. His 63 aces were the most across both Division I and Division II men's volleyball. The graduate student has 56 kills, 34 digs, 11 blocks, and seven aces in his return to volleyball.
WELCOME TO THE LO'
Three freshman are looking for their collegiate debut this weekend:
Gianluca Gomez (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic/Saint Joseph Metuchen),
Alexander Owens (Tuscon, Ariz./Salpointe Catholic), and
Andre Pimienta (Los Angeles, Calif./Wisebum Da Vinci).
Nate Duff (Virginia Beach, Va./First Colonial) had his first collegiate start again BYU where he collected four digs and a kill. He has registered seven digs and one kill this year.
Jack Wolgemuth (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) had six digs in his collegiate debut in the win against Northern Kentucky. After this weekend, he recorded 40 digs and three assists in total this season.
Derek Piatek (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mars Area) had his collegiate debut in the win against Northern Kentucky with an ace.
Tate Myatt (Chicago, Ill./Lane Tech) recorded his collegiate debut in a win against Roberts Wesleyan with a kill.
Luke Colquette (Highlands ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) had his collegiate debut against Hawaii with a kill.
ABOUT THE COACH
Mike Rumbaugh enters is 28th season as the Saint Francis men's volleyball head coach in 2026. Rumbaugh is the second head coach in program history, after Gary Evangelisto, who guided the program for the first 15 years (1984-98). Rumbaugh was named the NEC Coach of the Year for the third-straight campaign. Prior to joining the NEC, Rumbaugh and the Red Flash was a member of the EIVA for the first 24 years as a head coach. Saint Francis registered a winning overall season 10 times during this stretch and participated in the EIVA Tournament 10 times, advancing to the EIVA Championship Game four times (2006, 2007, 2016, and 2017) and winning the EIVA Hay Division twice (2001, 2005). Rumbaugh arrived in Loretto in 1998 after serving a six-year term as an assistant coach with the men's and women's volleyball teams at Mercyhurst College. Rumbaugh is a certified official by the United States of America Volleyball Association. He has served as an instructor at USA High Performance and Regional High Performance Camps, and coached the USA Continental Youth Team against domestic and international opponents at the USA Select Competition.
