Moon Township, Pa. - Nov. 7, 2009 - The Robert Morris University Colonials defeated the St. Francis (N.Y.) Terriers, 3-0, on Saturday afternoon at the Sewall Center. Robert Morris hit at a .260 efficiency to the Terriers .118 hitting percentage in route to the victory.
The win improves the Colonials to 12-18 overall and 9-4 league play, while St. Francis drops to 3-20 overall and 2-11 in the NEC.
Although winning set one 25-22, the Terriers put up a solid fight. A kill by freshman Amanda Craig (Houston, Texas / St. Agnes Academy) gave RMU the first point of the set and the Colonials soon captured a 4-1 advantage. Robert Morris continued to lead, but St. Francis slowly chipped away at the Colonial lead until the score was deadlocked at 10-10. Two errors by the Colonials gave the Terriers their first lead of the game at 12-10 and a couple kills by SFNY's Anisa Lila gave them a 16-12 lead. Robert Morris quickly got back into the set with a two kills by Craig and several Terrier errors to tie the score 16-16. The squads battled back and forth, but RMU eventually came away with the win. Craig hit perfect in set one with five kills.
For the majority of the second set the score remained within one or two. Both teams played relatively even with the Colonials hitting a .256 hitting percentage to the Terriers .233 hitting percentage. However, RMU put up 21 digs to the Terriers 13 to give them an advantage and the 25-20 victory. The set ended with a kill by junior Amanda Graham (Melbourne, Fla. / Eau Gallie).
Unlike the first and second set, the Colonials cruised past the Terriers in the third set winning by a score of 25-15. SFNY started the set on a 3-0 run, but RMU quickly recovered and brought the score to 14-10 in their favor off the serve of freshman Nicole Wiechecki (Wilmington, Del. / Urusuline Academy). The Terriers were able to side-out with a kill by Detelina Dimitrova, but RMU got the ball right back with a put down by freshman Lindsey Monger (Rising Sun, Md. / Rising Sun). Junior libero Corinne Moser (Meyersdale, Pa. / Meyersdale) went back to serve and went on a five-point run to give the Colonials a dominating 20-12 lead. The set ended with back-to-back service aces by Monger and an SFNY error.
Craig led the Colonials with 13 kills and added seven digs and two blocks. Wiechecki recorded a match-high three service aces and added eight digs in the win, while Moser recorded a team high 10 digs. Sophomore setter Alyssa Bennett (Ramona, Calif. / Ramona) finished the match with 32 assists and added five kills and two blocks. Graham and Monger each added seven kills in the triumph.
The Colonials return to the Sewall Center tomorrow to take on the Long Island Blackbirds at 1:00 p.m. Prior to the game Robert Morris will honor the squad's lone senior on the team, Jessy Nelko (Aliquippa, Pa. / Hopewell).
