Fairfield, Conn. - Nov. 15, 2009 - The Robert Morris University Colonials, led by seventh-year head coach Rob Thomas, won their second straight contest on Sunday afternoon against Sacred Heart at the Pitt Center. The Colonials struggled in the first set, but overcame the initial loss and won the next three sets for the match victory. With the win, Robert Morris improves to 14-19 overall and 11-5 in league play, while the Pioneers drop to 22-10 overall and 12-4 in the NEC.
The Pioneers stunned the Colonials in set one and tallied 16 kills to RMU's five in route to a 25-9 victory. They hit at an impressive .467 hitting percentage and held the Colonials to a .000 clip. Sophomore Alyssa Bennett (Ramona, Calif. / Ramona) was the only Colonial to tally multiple kills in the loss with two.
The Colonials were able to recover the set one loss and took the next game 25-20. The Pioneers started the contest with a service ace, but followed it with a service error to set the score at 1-1. The set remained within one until a kill by Bennett and an error by the Pioneers gave RMU a 15-13 lead. They Colonials never let go of the lead and two kills by Amanda Graham (Melbourne, Fla. / Eau Gallie) and a Pioneer error ended the set with an RMU victory. Graham led the Colonials with four kills on five attempts.
The third set looked very similar to set two with Robert Morris winning 25-19. The Colonials started to pull away when score was knotted at 2-2 when Graham went on a five point run to gain an 8-3 lead. Senior outside hitter Jessy Nelko (Aliquippa, Pa. / Hopewell) captured three kills during the run. The Pioneers attempted to get back into the set, but they were unable to stop the Colonial attack. Both sophomore Hannah Veith (Columbus, Ohio / Worthington) and freshman Lindsey Monger (Rising Sun, Md. / Rising Sun) made zero errors in the third set and captured five and four kills, respectively in the win.
The Pioneers started off the fourth set with a 4-1 lead and soon escalated that lead to 9-3 off several kills from Brittany Best and Elise Sage. Sacred Heart continued to lead, but Robert Morris slowly crept within reach of the Pioneers throughout play. At 19-17 in the Pioneers favor, SHU recorded two errors, which tied the game for the first time at 19-19. The remainder of play was a battle between the two squads. With Sacred Heart leading 22-20, the Colonials tallied two kills and a service ace to earn their first lead of the contest at 23-23. Back-to-back SHU errors ended the set with a 25-23 RMU win.
Veith led the Colonials with 13 kills on a .467 hitting percentage and added six blocks in the win. Graham also put in a strong showing with eight kills on zero errors and a match-high eight blocks. Bennett finished the match with eight kills, 27 assists and 14 digs.
The Colonials head to Long Island next week to compete in the NEC Tournament as the No. 4 seed. Robert Morris will take on No. 1 Long Island on Saturday, Nov. 21.
