LORETTO, PA - The University of Charleston Golden Eagles started their second weekend of play against another EIVA, Saint Francis University, in a Friday night match. UC tied up the sets 2-2, forcing a fifth set, before taking home the final set 18-16. They secured their first victory of the season.

JUST THE BASICS

SCORE: Charleston: 3 Saint Francis: 2

LOCATION: LORETTO, PA - Degol Arena

TEAM RECORDS: Charleston (1-2, 1-2 EIVA) Saint Francis (1-9, 0-3 EIVA)

Charleston started off the first set against the Red Flash slow as they fell behind 4-0. The Golden Eagles then rallied back to take the lead 9-8. Charleston tallied 13 kills on 28 total attacks giving them a hitting percentage of .286. Saint Francis recorded a total of 9 kills in the set on 30 attacks for a hitting percentage of .133. The Golden Eagles took the opening set against the Red Flash  25-21.

Saint Francis once again, started off strong, starting off the set 6-0.  Charleston made a comeback to make it 11-3 but it was too late.  The Red Flash recorded 14 kills on 27 attacks with only two errors, while the Golden Eagles had nine kills on 33 attacks accompanied by five errors. Saint Francis took the hard fought second set by a score of 25-17.

Charleston started the third set strong, making it 16-12, before Saint Francis made a comeback to make it 17-16. The Golden Eagles battled back to make it close before the Red Flash took the set 26-24. Saint Francis recorded 14 kills on 33 attacks while Charleston had 7 kills on 31 attacks. The Red Flash had 10 service errors in the third set.

The Golden Eagles started strong, once again, getting out to a 10-4 lead. Charleston led the entire way, ending the fourth set 25-20 on 13 kills. Saint Francis ended the fourth set 11 kills on 27 attacks. 

After Charleston took home the deciding set 18-16. The Golden Eagles fought off a late comeback to secure their first victory of the year.  Charleston had 11 kills on 29 attacks in the final frame, while Saint Francis had 10 kills on 25 kills.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

Junior Maarten Bartels led the way for the Golden Eagles as he was able to record 14 kills with a .200 hitting percentage, three service aces, and 17 total points. Freshman Ismael Sneed had 14 kills, one dig, and a total of 15 total points.

UP NEXT

The Golden Eagles return to action tomorrow, as they play game two against Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pa.

--UC--