LORETTO, PA. — The St. Francis Red Flash defeated the Queens Royals by a score of 3-0 (23-25, 19-25, 18-25) to finish out the weekend in Loretto on Sunday afternoon.
SET BY SET
Even after a long five-setter the night before against NJIT, the Royals came out fiery against the 2023 NEC Championship Runner-Up Red Flash — battling the squad in a point-by-point affair as there were 16 tied scores in the first set alone. It would be at the 18-18 mark that St. Francis (SFU) would rally three unanswered points to take a 21-18 lead, causing the Royals to take a timeout and regroup. After the break, the Royals pieced together a comeback to tie the frame at 22 all before a service ace, a service error, and a Red Flash kill would finalize the SFU first set win.
In the second, the Red Flash would carry their momentum into a 6-2 early lead thanks to Andrew Deardorff pacing the Red Flash offense. The Royals battled back with a kill from veteran Jack Brinkman, a triple block from Ruben Emmerich, Stirling Sims, and Brinkman, and a service ace from Daniel Leitao to cut their deficit to one point. Both sides of the net would battle close for the rest of the set until a late four-point run led by a kill from SFU's Brady Stump would finalize the 25-19 triumph.
In the third, SFU had garnered their largest lead of the day with an early 7-1 advantage. Later, Ruben Emmerich paced the Royals with another kill — his tenth of the day — to cut the Red Flash's lead in half before another jump led by Stump kept SFU in the driver's seat. Despite later runs led by kills from Brinkman, Leitao, and Sims — Queens would fall in a 25-18 final score.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Emmerich led the Royals with ten kills, a career-high. Leitao led his squad in three categories on the day — aces (2), assists (20), and digs (3). Sims led the block effort with three.
- The Royals were held to a .185 hitting percentage, which marks only the third time the squad hit below .200 in the season.
- Both squads tied in blocks on the day, 4-4.
REMARKS FROM COACH PRICE
"Pretty quick turnaround for us, and I thought having to play the early afternoon match following a tough extra five-setter affected our legs a little bit," Head Coach
Jeremy Price said. "Saint Francis did a good job and was really well prepared for us, but I really liked how we competed, especially in the first set. I am really pleased with how our middles played without an attack error.
Jack Brinkman played back at outside hitter this year after playing most of the years as the right side, and was very efficient offensively. We will get focused on Quincy in our MIVA opener next week."
UP NEXT
Catch your Royals back in action as they face their first MIVA competitor of the season, Quincy, on the road next weekend (Feb. 2-3).
SOCIAL MEDIA
Be sure to follow the Royals men's volleyball team on Instagram and Twitter/X to stay up to date on all the latest news surrounding the team. Fans are also encouraged to follow Queens Athletics to stay updated on all the Royals sports teams in action by searching @QueensAthletics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
