Moon Township, Pa. - Sept. 1, 2009 - The Robert Morris University Colonials fell to the Cleveland State Vikings, 3-0 (25-13,25-15,25-15), Tuesday at the Charles L. Sewall Center. The loss dropped the Colonials to 3-2, while the Vikings improved their record to 5-0.

In the first set, Cleveland State started the set on a 3-0 run. Junior Amanda Graham (Melbourne, Fla. / Eau Gallie) was able to break the streak with a kill and after a couple more Colonial kills and a Cleveland State error, Robert Morris was able to bring the score to 4-4. However, Vikings Kara Koch and Amy Benz tallied a couple kills each to take a 10-6 advantage. Cleveland State maintained the lead for the remainder of the set and won 25-13.

The Vikings kept its stride in the second set and won 25-15 and tallied 14 kills to the Colonials nine. Junior Jaye Hellmich (Costa Mesa, Calif. / Estancia) led RMU with three kills in the second set, while Graham and freshman Amanda Craig (Houston, Texas / St. Agnes Academy) each tallied two kills.

The Colonials tallied the first point of the third set with a Viking attacking error. The two squads continued to trade points until Cleveland State started to pull away at 7-6. Despite a strong effort by Robert Morris, Cleveland State went on to win 25-15 for the match win.

Graham led the Colonials with nine kills and two blocks, while Hellmich led the team with a .556 hitting percentage tallying six kills in the process. Sophomore setter Alyssa Bennett (Ramona, Calif. / Ramona) led the team with eight digs and added 24 assists and two kills.

Robert Morris returns to action this Friday when it heads to University Park, Pa. to compete in a tournament at Penn State. The squad takes on Pitt on Friday, Sept. 4 at 4:00 p.m. and on Saturday, Sept 5 the Colonials face two-time defending national champion Penn State at 10:00 a.m. and Buffalo at 4:00 p.m.