Hackensack, N.J. - Nov. 14, 2009 - The Robert Morris University Colonials, led by seventh-year head coach Rob Thomas, topped the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights on Saturday afternoon at Stratis arena, 3-1. The Colonials defeated the Knights with a solid 25-18 score in set one, but had to fight through the next three sets to earn the win by scores of 28-26, 13-25 and 25-21. With the victory the Colonials improve to 10-5 in NEC play and 13-19 overall, while the Knights drop to 5-11 in league play and 8-24 overall.
RMU started off the first set with two blocks to earn the two point advantage. FDU fought back and tallied the next two points and the two squads traded points for the next several plays. At 7-7 the Colonials started to pull away when the Knights suffered a service error and freshman Amanda Craig (Houston, Texas / St. Agnes Academy) tallied a kill. The Colonials continued to lead for the remainder of play and captured a 17-11 lead after middle blockers Amanda Graham (Melbourne, Fla. / Eau Gallie) and Hannah Veith (Columbus, Ohio / Worthington) each registered a kill. A ball handling error by FDU set the score at 19-12, giving RMU their largest advantage of the contest. Graham ended the contest 25-18 with a kill followed by a service ace.
FDU posed quite a challenge for the Colonials in set two, but Robert Morris prevailed with a 28-26 win. The Colonials and the Knights swapped side-outs to start the set, but a kills by Veith and senior Jessy Nelko (Aliquippa, Pa. / Hopewell) and an attacking error by FDU gave RMU a 7-4 lead. However, FDU's Kelsey Semler went on a five point serving run to give the Knights a 10-7 advantage. The Colonials continued to trail the Knights for the majority of play, but slowly were able to catch up to FDU. A kill by Graham deadlocked the score at 23-23 and the two squads battled back and forth until a kill by sophomore Alyssa Bennett (Ramona, Calif. / Ramona) ended the set with an RMU victory.
Fairleigh Dickinson dominated the entirety of the third set and held the Colonials to negative hitting, while it secured a .435 hitting percentage in route to a 25-13 win. Veith led the Colonials in the third set with three kills.
The Colonials did not let the third set defeat discourage them and came back and topped the Knights 25-21 in the fourth. Junior libero Corinne Moser (Meyersdale, Pa. / Meyersdale) started off play with a service ace and a FDU error gave RMU a 2-0 lead. FDU and RMU fought back and forth until a serving run by Craig at 12-12 gave Robert Morris a 16-12 advantage. Bennett scored two kills during the run. The Knights sided out after an RMU error, but Graham tallied three consecutive kills to give RMU a six point lead. Fairleigh Dickinson was never able to get within reach of the Colonial lead and another kill by Graham ended the set, giving RMU the match win.
Graham finished with three match-highs, included 18 kills, a .536 hitting percentage and four blocks. Veith also had a solid performance and tallied 13 kills on a .500 hitting percentage and added three blocks. Bennett registered nine kills, 38 assists and three blocks. Moser and freshman Nicole Wiechecki (Wilmington, Del / Ursuline Academy) both tallied double-digit digs with 14 and 10, respectively.
The Colonials return to action tomorrow to take on Sacred Heart at 12:00 p.m. in Fairfield, Conn.
