BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, N.Y. - After a week delay, the St. Francis Brooklyn men's volleyball team opened its third season as a program on Saturday afternoon.
The Terriers welcomed Purdue Fort Wayne to the Genovesi Center for the first time, and after splitting the first two sets, the Mastodons (3-2, 0-0 MIVA) would win the following two to defeat SFBK (0-0, 0-1 EIVA), 3-1.
HOW IT HAPPENED
St. Francis opened the first with a 3-1 advantage before the Mastodons scored six straight to take a 7-3 lead.
A Lucas Blanco ace on the 13th point of the set capped off a 3-0 run by Terriers, to close the PFW lead to 7-6. The visitors secured the first set win, 25-11, thanks to an 18-5 scoring advantage.
The Terriers showed their fight in the second set. Down 4-1 early, the Terriers earned serve back on a PFW attack error. With newcomer Andrea Lancianese on the serve, the Terriers rattled off five consecutive points to go up, 7-5.
Both teams battled to set point with the Terriers leading 24-19, and the Terriers won their first set of the season on a Mastodon attack error.
Lancianese led all players in the second set with 7 kills, with Blanco topped all players with 8 assists in the set.
Riding a .300 hit percentage over the final two sets, Purdue Fort Wayne took sets three and four (25-12, 25-17) to secure the win.
TEAM LEADERS
Andrea Lancianese led the Terriers with 12 kills, while James Henneberry secure five.
Freshman middle blocker Caleb Lipscomb matched a game high with 6 blocks in his collegiate debut.
Lucas Blanco scored a team-high 20 assists.
Derrick Truong led the home team with 11 digs.
NEXT UP: The Terriers will hit the road Jan. 29 to compete in the Battle of NY, hosted by Daemen College. They face the hosts at 10:30 a.m. before closing the day out against D'Youville at 2:30 p.m.
