Moon Township, Pa. ? Nov, 1 2008 ? The Robert Morris Colonials, led by sixth-year head coach Rob Thomas, defeated the Long Island Blackbirds for the first time since October 23, 2004 in four games at the Charles L. Sewall Center. Robert Morris was able to rally back from a set one defeat to win three straight sets for the match win. With the win, the Colonials remain undefeated in conference play.

Robert Morris put the first point on the board with a kill by senior outside hitter Emily Wolthuis (Byron Center, Mich. / South Christian). Long Island tied it up at 1-1 after a service error by Robert Morris. A pair of kills by Wolthuis, a kill by sophomore middle blocker Amanda Graham (Melbourne, Fla. / Eau Gallie) and a service ace by Bennett pushed Robert Morris to a 6-2 lead.

Long Island slowly rallied their way back into the contest and from that point the set was a battle of side-outs. A few errors by the Colonials gave Long Island the lead at 16-15 and Robert Morris was never able to recover. The blackbirds took set one 25-22.

Both teams put on a defensive show in the first set with Robert Morris earning 16 digs to Long Islands 17. Wolthuis led the Colonials with five kills in the first set.

The Colonials were able to rally their way back into the match in the second set to win 25-17. Robert Morris started the set off dominating Long Island with a 12-4 lead and never looked back. Senior libero Alaina Gibson (Muncie, Ind. / Muncie Burris) went back to the serving line at 6-3 and served for six straight points. Long Island slowly closed the gap to Robert Morris' strong lead, but was never able to get back in the game.

Robert Morris put up 21 digs to Long Island's 18 and held them negative hitting. The Colonials also posted six blocks in set two alone.

The Colonials took the momentum from the set two win and carried it over to the third. Long Island started off on a 5-0 run, but Robert Morris quickly took the lead from the Blackbirds at 11-10 and held that lead for the rest of the set. Freshman setter Alyssa Bennett (Ramona, Calif. / Ramona) ended the set 25-19 with a kill.

The entire fourth set  had the Colonials and the Blackbirds tied or within one point up until 15-15. Wolthuis went back to the serving line at 17-16 in favor of the Colonials and served for the rest of the match. Robert Morris forced LIU to seven errors, while also putting down a couple kills for the 25-16 win.

Robert Morris held current NEC Player of the Week Svetlana Simic to a negative hitting percentage and posted 85 digs to LIU's 70. In addition, Robert Morris out blocked LIU 12 to seven.

Wolthuis led the game with 14 kills and 19 digs, while also posting two blocks. The freshman duo of Bennett and Hannah Veith (Columbus, Ohio / Worthington) tallied eight and seven kills, respectively. Bennett also grabbed 15 digs, while Veith tallied two blocks.

Gibson led the team in digs with 22, with five other players earning double-digit digs. Charla Drabant (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton North) accumulated 14 digs and senior Cassie Lee (Vista, Calif. / Vista) tallied 11 digs.

The Colonials are now 15-9 overall and 4-0 in the NEC. The team heads to New Jersey and Connecticut next weekend to take on Fairleigh Dickinson and Sacred Heart.