Box Score FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Sacred Heart men's volleyball team hit a season-high .329 en route to opening Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (EIVA) play with a sweep of 15th ranked Saint Francis U on Friday night at the William H. Pitt Center. The first victory of the season for SHU, it gives first year head coach Greg Walker his first career win with the Pioneers.
After dropping the first five points of the match, Sacred Heart battled back for a hard fought 25-23 first set triumph by scoring seven of the final nine points. The Pioneers then took control early in both sets two and three to eventually cruise to the sweep.
In addition to the season-high .329 hitting percentage, SHU also recorded a season-high 16 block assists and was one block shy of a new season best with nine. The Pioneers limited Saint Francis U to just .104 hitting, and nearly doubled up on the Red Flash in assists, 41-23, and digs, 34-18.
Three Pioneers finished in double digits for kills, with Chris DeLucie's match-high 13 and Michael Comens' 11 both new career bests for a three set match. Austin Arcala returned to action for the first time this season by adding 12 on .500 percent hitting while also leading the match with six block assists. Taylor Blomquist chipped in with five kills on .714 percent hitting and added five block assists. Joshua Ayzenberg also set a new career-high in a three set match with 12 digs, while Eduardo Zardo easily led all players with 36 assists.
Stephen Braswell was the only SFU player in double figure kills with 11. Jeff Hogan added five and a team-high five digs.
Sacred Heart continues EIVA play tomorrow, hosting perennial power Penn State in a primetime 8 pm matchup.
Noteworthy
- The loss snaps an eight game losing streak against Saint Francis U, whom the Pioneers had not beaten since 2011
- 2011 was also the last time that Sacred Heart opened conference play with a win
How it Happened
- First Set-As mentioned, Saint Francis U came out with the opening five points of the match, taking advantage of thee Sacred Heart errors. The Pioneers also trailed by as many as four as late as 13-9, and would not come all the way back to tie it until Arcala and DeLucie capped a 7-3 run with back-to-back kills. SFU came back with five of the next seven points though, looking to take control when two straight SHU errors made it 21-18. Sacred Heart recovered though, taking seven of the final nine, which included four Red Flash attack errors as well as a service error before an Arcala kill ended the set.
- Second Set- Set two was much a different story with Sacred Heart jumping out with five of the first six points before a Comens kill made it 9-3. Yet another Comens made the score 13-4 before DeLucie gave the Pioneers its largest lead of the set, 16-5, with a service ace. Saint Francis U got as close as 22-17, but SHU recuperated with a timeout to take three of the final five points as the set again ended with an Arcala kill.
- Third Set- SFU scored the first two points but again it was all Sacred Heart early. After a SHU service error tied the set at four, the Pioneers rattled off the next eight points to ultimately run away with the clinching set. It started with five straight Red Flash errors before back-to-back kills from DeLucie and Arcala. Saint Francis came within four points four separate times but was never able to get any closer. On the final occasion, 15-11, Sacred Heart officially put the match away as Arcala ended an ensuing 4-1 spurt with back-to-back kills.
