Coach Rumbaugh's Q&A with the EIVA

Despite producing its lowest win total since 2004 a season ago, the Saint Francis University men's volleyball team were no slouch out on the court. A high majority of set scores were within five points or fewer throughout the course of the 2011 season.
 
Head coach Mike Rumbaugh looks to keep that competitive edge in 2012 and make a return to the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association playoffs for what would be, the 10^th time during his tenure at Saint Francis.
 
SFU finished last season with a 10-19 overall record and a 3-7 mark in the Tait Division of the EIVA, squeaking into the postseason where they fell to Rutgers-Newark in the first round. However, some changes have been adapted to the EIVA in 2012. With just one division and only the top four schools earning bids to the postseason tournament, the Red Flash will need to put together more conference wins to propel them into the playoffs this season.
 
Rumbaugh returns five key starters from a season ago and loses just five total players from last year's squad. The veteran head coach also will welcome in seven newcomers to provide a line of depth for the Flash coming off the bench.
 
OUTSIDE
The outside will be SFU's deepest pool of options with seven guys listed on the roster as outside hitters. Logan Patterson (Derry, Pa./Derry Area) will be the go-to guy this season as he led the team with 286 kills last season. The 6-6 sophomore averaged 3.04 kills per set and is the ideal all-around player. Patterson collected a team-high 19 service aces and recorded 67 digs and 52 total blocks from the outside.
 
Fellow sophomores Adam Barba (Meadville, Pa./Meadville) and John Beck (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace) saw moderate time on the court in 2011 and will provide experience to back Patterson up. Also on the outside are senior Ben Wetsell (Saegertown, Pa./Saegertown), sophomores Kyle Beatty (Meadville, PA/Saegertown) and Lucas Schulze (Berlin, Germany/Anne-Frank) and freshman Dominik Stork.
 
MIDDLE
Returning for another season of Red Flash volleyball are senior John Skarupa (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegehny) and junior Adam Roche (Cochranton, Pa./Cochranton). Both of these players had solid seasons in 2011 and are expected to continue that into 2012 in the middle. Skarupa ranked second on the team in a bundle of statistical categories including kills (153), service aces (17) and total blocks (55). The 6-8 middle blocker finished ninth in the conference with a .352 hitting percentage.
 
For Roche, blocking is his specialty as he tallied 89 total blocks to lead the team and rank fourth in the EIVA. Mark Kochan is another newcomer to the squad who played his freshman season at Rutgers-Newark and led that team with 16 solo blocks and added 87 assisted blocks. Kochan gives Rumbaugh another dominant piece to add to the middle of the court.
 
Trevor Stark (Lemont, Pa./State College), who redshirted last season, and Michael DeLyser provide depth off the bench should the starters in the middle begin to struggle.
 
OPPOSITE
Competing at opposite are senior Alex Kane (York, Pa./West York) and sophomore Colin Sherwin (Greensburg, Pa./Greater Latrobe), both of whom saw a very similar amount of playing time in 2011 and had comparable statistical numbers. In his freshman season, Sherwin managed 140 kills. Kane followed closely behind, landing 132 kills but had the better attack percentage of the two, hitting at a .225 clip.
 
Even in terms of defense these two teammates had close numbers in digs and blocking. Sherwin dug the ball 55 times and put up 35 blocks, while Kane registered 51 digs and 47 blocks. If there is any difference between the two it would be the substantial height differential as Kane stands at a staggering 6-9, six inches taller than Sherwin. If more of a serving expert is needed however, look for Sherwin to fill that role as he had 13 service aces a season ago.
 
LIBERO
Losing two-time All-EIVA second team selection John Wappler (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) is without a doubt a big loss for the Red Flash. Wappler averaged 2.42 digs per set last season to rank him second in the conference. However, SFU has a couple of guys ready to step up and fill that role in Wappler's absence.
 
With the new rule changes to the libero position, junior co-captain Nicholas Bancroft and sophomore Lucas Behringer (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral) will most likely both dress as liberos, at least for the start of the season. Last year, neither Bancroft nor Behringer saw a substantial amount of playing time but Bancroft is expected to land the starting job.
 
SETTER
Starting job at setter figures to be wrapped up coming into the start of the season. Senior co-captain Ryan Williams (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) has held the position for the past two seasons and should continue the trend for a third consecutive year. In his junior campaign, the Pittsburgh, Pa. native racked up 912 assists and finished sixth in the EIVA with 10.12 assists per set.
 
Sophomore Michael Krepp (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) could see an adequate amount of time at setter as well as he produced nearly 150 assists in his freshman season. Rumbaugh will carry two more setters on his roster in sophomore Caleb Brown (Hermosa Beach, Calif./Loyola), who redshirted in 2011, and freshman Patrick Stagg.
 
SCHEDULE
Kicking off the 2012 season, the Red Flash welcome Ball State to Loretto tonight for a 7 p.m. matchup and follow that up against IPFW tomorrow, same time and location.
 
In total, SFU will square off with four of the current top-15 nationally ranked men's volleyball squads in 2012, including a pair of matches against last season's national champions, the Ohio State Buckeyes.
 
EIVA play gets underway for the Flash Feb. 10 in Loretto as they host NJIT for the first of two matches with the Highlanders. Saint Francis concludes conference action April 21 with a trip to State College, Pa. to take on No. 7 Penn State.