Spikers demolish St. Francis in straight sets

By MICHAEL PALM
Collegian Sports Writer

After easy wins in the first two games, Penn State received a tougher challenge from St. Francis. But Lion Coach Mark Pavlik was not worried. He had sophomore middle blocker Ivan Contreras in the lineup.

"Ivan just kind of jacked it up to the next level," Pavlik said.

Along with outside hitter Ed Josefoski, Contreras tied for the team lead in kills with 14. He had a .458 hitting percentage, making only three errors in leading the Lions to a three game victory (15-4, 15-5, 17-15) over St. Francis in Rec Hall's south gym where the Lions usually practices.

No. 6 Penn State improved their record to 11-3 while St. Francis fell to 18-3 on the year.

The first game saw Penn State jump out to a 7-0 lead. St. Francis scored two and Penn State scored the next seven for a 14-2 lead. The Red Flash added another two before the Lions closed out the game at 15-4.

In the second game, Penn State trailed 0-1 at the beginning, and from there, the team never looked back. From a 6-3 lead, the Lions extended their margin to 11-3 before finishing off the game at 15-5.

The Red Flashes appeared tight in the first two games. Their coach, Gary Evangelisto, thought that Penn State had better quickness than his team.

"Our guys were a little bit put off," he said.

Realizing they had nothing to lose, St. Francis started to play with more enthusiasm. Brad Glouner, a senior outside hitter, said his team started to play loose.

St. Francis mounted a comeback in the third game. The Red Flash opened a 6-2 lead before Penn State could even the score at 8-8 and then 10-10. St. Francis later took the score to 14-11. Penn State charged back to 15-14, St. Francis tied the score at 15, and then the Lions closed the game at 17-15 and match on two serves by junior middle blocker Adam Fernsler.

"I think that St. Francis only played one of the games," Evangelisto said about his team's loss.

Although the score in the third game was close, Pavlik was not overly concerned.

"Even if we didn't come back," he said, "I just felt we were in control of the match."

In the victory, Penn State was able to experiment with combinations. Pavlik tried a lineup in the third game featuring the tallest players on the team. He also rotated both setters -- senior Brian Miller and redshirt senior Carlos Ortiz -- so they would be familiar with the combination.