Brooklyn, N.Y. - Nov. 21, 2009 - The No. 4 Robert Morris University Colonials ended the 2009 season by falling to No. 1 Long Island in the semifinals of the Northeast Conference tournament on Saturday afternoon in a disappointing three set loss (25-20, 25-11, 25-17) at the Wellness Center on the campus of Long Island University.
Long Island started off the first set with a kill by Svetlana Simic to earn the first point. Long Island earned the next point off an RMU error, but a kill and three LIU errors gave the Colonials a 4-2 lead. However, the Blackbirds quickly escalated to an 8-6 lead off a serving run by Martina Racic. Robert Morris was able to side-out off an LIU service error, but LIU got the ball right back when Breanna Cullity captured a put down and set the score at 10-7. Long Island continued to pose quite a challenge for RMU and soon extended its lead to 22-15. RMU made a run for it at the end of the set with a couple kills from sophomore Hannah Veith (Columbus, Ohio / Worthington), but Long Island came out victorious 25-20.
RMU came out in the second set with a lot of determination and grabbed the first point off a block by Lindsey Monger (Rising Sun, Md. / Rising Sun) and Amanda Graham (Melbourne, Fla. / Eau Gallie). From that point the two teams continued to trade points until Long Island started to pull away, 11-4, after several RMU errors. A kill by freshman Amanda Craig (Houston, Texas, St. Agnes Academy) finally gave RMU the side out, but a kill by LIU's Svelana Simic gave the ball right back to the Blackbirds. The Colonials cut into the LIU lead, 12-7 after freshman Monger squeezed the ball through the LIU block and junior libero Corinne Moser (Meyersdale, Pa. / Meyersdale) grabbed a service ace. The Blackbirds soon sided-out and went on a run that the Colonials were never able to recover from and fell by a score of 25-11.
Long Island carried over the momentum from its set two win and started off the third game 7-1. A kill by junior Amanda Graham (Melbourne, Fla. / Eau Gallie) finally gave RMU the ball, but Long Island continued to increase its lead. The Colonials were able to bring the score within six, at 16-10, off kills by Craig and Charla Drabant (Wheaton, Ill. / Wheaton North). However, Long Island soon got the ball back and brought the score to 20-12. The Colonials made a solid final run towards the end, but fell in set three 25-17 to give the Blackbirds the match win.
Craig led the Colonials with nine kills, while Graham added seven kills on a team high hitting percentage of .429. Veith led the squad with four blocks.
The Colonials finished the season with an overall record of 14-20.
