Conference News
Red Flash Triumphs Over the Tigers, 3-1
Red Flash Triumphs Over Tigers, 3-1
(30-25, 30-23, 27-30, 30-24)
Loretto, Pa. - Saint Francis rattled off their second consecutive
Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association Tait Division
match-up after defeating the Princeton Tigers 3-1 (30-25, 30-23,
27-30, 30-24) in Friday night's showdown.
"Princeton is a team I have a lot respect for; a team I have always
had trouble with in the past," Saint Francis head coach Mike
Rumbaugh submitted. "Tonight's back-and-forth pace really
could have ended up going either way. We missed a few digs
here and there, but Princeton reciprocated by almost doubling us in
attacking errors. In the end, I'm extremely pleased with how
we performed offensively; yet we must retain our focus for Monday's
match against East Stroudsburg."
Sophomore outside hitter Jordan Varee (Meadville, Pa./Conneaut
Valley) managed the game, leading all hitters with 20 kills on 42
attempts (.381) and one ace. Sophomore outside hitter Nick
Rivett (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) offered up his services for
another sound performance of 19 kills on 40 swings (.375).
Rivett played heads-up ball on both sides by piloting the Flash
with 11 digs. He also threw down a service ace.
Sophomore outside hitter Dave Reilly (Yardley, Pa./Pennsbury)
accurately attacked 15 times on 24 swings (.500). Reilly also
scorched the most
service aces (2) for Saint Francis, tallied eight digs and two
blocking helpers. Sophomore middle hitter Pete Freyer
(Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) seemed to come through in the
right moments of Friday's match, finishing with six kills on nine
tries (.444), one dig and one solo stuff. Sophomore middle
hitter Patrick McManamon (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon) notched four
kills on nine swings (.222), one ace and five blocking assists;
three of which came right in a row in the crucial moments of game
four when his team was trailing.
Sophomore libero Markus Schulze (Berlin, Germany/Anne-Frank)
chipped in for five digs and set sets while his counterpart, junior
setter Shane Conley (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny), lead all
participants with 56 sets. Conley also chalked up three kills
on 10 attempts, six digs, one
solo block and one b locking assist.
Saint Francis outhit the Tigers .373 to .221 (67-134 /
60-131). The Tigers outdid the Flash in defensively, though,
tallying 41 digs to SFU's 33. Each team put forth seven total team
blocks. The biggest discrepancy amongst games in attacking
average came in game two when the
Flash pounced on the Tigers, .517 to .217. After the match
commenced with an extra long try from the Tigers, Princeton's Jeff
McCown countered off Reilly's extended right arm. The
first ace of the game came off of Peter Eichler's serve, but
Rivett's snatched back a point of his own. After a Princeton
point, Freyer swatted a score to knot the game at 3-3. The
points continued to be passed around in the early moments of game
one after Conley slapped one
to the opposite side of the court for another Flash tally.
The game was moved to a 9-9 thanks to a few errors bartered back
and forth in mid moments, but McManamon and Freyer pulled two down
consecutive points before Princeton charged back to tie the
game. Rivett's three precise
attacks baffled the Tigers' defense in the last four plays, turning
the initial frame into a two-point lead. Rivett added on with
SFU's first ace of the match directly after. Glenn Nelson,
Princeton's head coach, called a timeout after his outside bashed
one into the antenna as the
score conveyed a 15-11 count. Conley pilfered another
point off an outstretched Tiger, but Rivett turned the serve over
to Princeton after he missed on his swing. The Tigers tallied
an error and a kill before finding Reilly's swings too
stifling. Conley's serve gave a point to Princeton, but
McManamon and Varee lit up the board defensively with a dual
block. Rivett then put up another kill following a Princeton
attack. Varee snatched away another Princeton tally with a
sturdy swat as the board read 21-18 in favor of the Flash.
Varee followed his own
footsteps with another kill that lead into an attacking error on
Princeton's side, handing the Flash a five-point advantage. Varee
made it three in a row before Princeton's Philip Rosenberg bounced
one off of Rivett's dig attempt. Reilly put up SFU's 25th
point right off the sideline, but Princeton rattled off the next
five of six points before Rumbaugh hailed for the Red Flash's first
timeout of the match. Varee busted up Princeton's hopes of
continuing their momentum as his buddy Rivett followed suit to put
SFU up four. Princeton tallied on the next play, but the net
stopped Peter Eichler's attempt at a soft kill. The Tigers'
Ka'ohu Berg-Hee mishandled McManamon's tricky serve as the
Flash claimed the opening stanza, 30-25. Rivett held onto his
strong play from Wednesday's match against Juniata and let the
Flash with a fine
attacking rate of .455 (six kills on 11 swings). Varee
and Reilly netted four apiece. Reilly had only five attempts
for a rate of .800. The Tigers defensively outdid the Flash
with 15 digs to SFU's eight.
Each team handed each other a point on errors in the first three
plays before McManamon tallied the first point of game two in the
corner pocket of the left side of the pitch. The Tigers drew
the game at 3-3, but Saint Francis scored on yet another Princeton
blocking error.
Freyer tallied Saint Francis' second block on the match, but
McManamon's serve swerved wide on the following play. Reilly
poked the yellow line to return the Flash to a two-point lead, but
Varee missed SFU's second serve in a row as the score read 6-5,
Saint Francis. Princeton carried out the same as Varee and
McManamon but two stifling kills from the Tigers kept the match
even at 7-7. Saint Francis gave the Tigers their first lead
of the game with two consecutive errors but Varee got the Flash
back on track with a big bash. Jeff McCown showed Varee what
he was made of, but Rivett piggy backed off of Varee's athleticism
and
utilized the net for a big point. Princeton threw one down
SFU's side to hold onto their two-point lead, but Rivett erased the
lead with two uninterrupted points. Reilly recaptured the
lead with an ace but missed on his next serve. Game two's
head-turning score had another tie at
13-13, but Reilly got superstitious and broke the 13-13 tie with a
swift kill. After a Princeton score, Varee tipped one where
no Tigers loomed, but Mike Vincent locked back up the score at
15-15. A Princeton error and a Varee kill put the Flash back
up two, but a Princeton block
quickly eradicated the two-point lead. Freyer smash
demolished the leather up the right side as Princeton chased
Freyer's tally with two errors, pushing the score to 20-16,
SFU. Peter Eichler busted Princeton's cold streak, but Saint
Francis countered with a Reilly point. The Tigers errantly
attacked on the next play, as SFU jumped out to their largest lead
of game two, 22-17. Each team traded points, but Philip
Rosenberg missed his second serve in a row. Princeton knocked
another ball wide as Saint Francis extended their stranglehold by
six. Princeton whipped up two successive kills, but Rivett
snuck one through the Tigers' den with the count now set at
26-21. After a Princeton tally, Rivett and Reilly teamed up
for points if their own, but Rivett mishit his following serve,
carving out a 28-23 score. After Princeton put one into the
back of the mesh, Varee finished off the Tigers in game two, 30-23,
with crowd-raising rip. Varee also led all attackers in game
two with six kills on 10 attempts. Rivett put forth five
and
Reilly painted four on the board in the second frame. Saint
Francis responded from game one's defensive draught and outdug the
Tigers 8-6.
Friday's third game open began with two kills from Princeton and
three errors as Princeton nudged out early, 3-2.
Princetonnotched another kill but sent back that point with an
errant serve. Freyer and Reilly's block attempt went wide on
the following play. Freyer and Conley tried to respond in the
same fashion but the same results came forth. Rivett sprung
up for a laser-like kill, with a Princeton error to follow.
The Tigers came back as a triple block
attempt fell down to SFU's side, but Varee piped one off the
Tiger's outside hitter to trail by one. Conley tied the game
with a big block and the Flash recaptured the lead with a wayward
swing from Peter Eichler. Princeton attained the next three
points, but Varee picture-perfectly rammed one through the Tigers'
defense. Princeton University retaliated, but McManamon kept
the Flash in it by just one point. Princeton tallied on a
tipped ball from the Flash, yet Rivett
found his niche in Princeton territory but pushing the count to
12-11 in favor of Princeton. PU scored on a Freyer blocking
error, but he quickly redeemed himself with a significant
swat. Game three was back to neck-and-neck at 14-14, but
Rivett turned the tie into a one-point
advantage on an off-target serve. Princeton scored again, but
Rivett pinched the corner of the court to defy Princeton's
defense. Each team scored on the next two plays, but Reilly
tied game three at 17-17 with a whimsical whack. The Tigers
registered the next two points, but Brandon
Denham missed his serve. Reilly did the same as Princeton
continued to maintain a two-point lead. The third consecutive
service error gave way to a game-tying kill from Freyer.
Varee busted a 21-21 tie with his first ace of the match, but mike
Vincent zipped game three back to a
22-22 dead heat. After two points exchanged hands, Princeton
cranked out the next three scores. The Tigers missed on their
serve, but Varee missed a dig and Princeton claimed a three-point
lead, 27-24. Rivett pushed one long and Rumbaugh called the
first timeout of game three with his team down 28-24. Reilly
cranked out a kill and Princeton erred on their next two attempts,
but SFU dropped the third game, 30-27, after Varee missed his
attack.
A blocking blunder from Princeton kick-started game four, but
Conley served one into the net to move it to 1-1. Varee
snapped the early tie with a beautiful boom and Philip Rosenberg
followed up with an attack twice as long as the court.
Tigers' Jeff McCown ripped a kill off of
Varee's fist, but Varee shook it off and smoked one right
back. Freyer rifled the leather through Princeton's territory
but McManamon lost the serve. Peter Eichler missed on his
swing as Varee miscalculated his first serve of game four.
Princeton's attempt at stopping Conley fell wide as the Flash moved
out to a 7-4 advantage. The Tigers crashed the net for the
next seven of eight points to seize the lead, 11-8, but Conley and
McManamon tried to calm down the Tigers with a dual block.
Princeton's tenacious play lead Rumbaugh to call for a breather
with his team pursuing Princeton's three-point lead, 13-10.
Rumbaugh's timeout let Princeton catch their breath, as well, as
they moved out to a 16-13 stretch in game four. Rivett erased
Mike Vincent's block on Freyer with a big kill. Varee
reenergized the crowd with a sonic boom through the Tigers
defense. Princeton then pushed one out of bounds but
hurriedly
threw up a kill thanks to Vincent. Rivett detonated the floor
with another SFU kill and McManamon and Reilly joined forced for a
block party to close the gap at 19-19. McManamon invited
Varee to the block party on the next play to regain the lead after
being down most of game four. McManamon and Reilly blocked
Princeton's third successive attempt as Nelson called for a timeout
with his team down two, 21-19. After the pause, both teams
tallied on their respective serves, but Princeton allowed the Flash
to stay up by two as Rosenberg went long on his
swing. Jeff McCown whiffed on his effort and Saint
Francis extended their lead by four. Reilly lathered on a
service to push Princeton down even further. Following
Reilly's error, Princbut Varee moved SFU closer to victory with a
nice swing. Mike Vincent's jaw-dropping kill was erased with
a Princeton service error. Varee returned the favor, but
Rivett's torrent tear lit the board for a Flash tally. Varee
almost removed one of Princeton's limbs on the following
play, 29-24. Varee's next attempt was blocked, but it fell
wide and the Flash claimed victory in four games. Varee paced
Saint Francis with seven kills on 14 attempts with just on
error. McManamon put down four blocking assists as both teams
finished tied in that department with
seven total on the evening.








