University Park, Pa. - Sept. 5, 2009 - The Robert Morris University Colonials wrapped up the weekend at the Nittany Lion Invitational with a 3-1 (18-25, 18-25, 27-25, 21-25) loss to Buffalo Bulls. Sophomore Hannah Veith (Columbus, Ohio / Worthington) was named to the all-tournament team after tallying her best performance of the weekend with nine kills on a .444 hitting percentage and seven blocks.
The Bulls and the Colonials traded several kills in the first set to bring the score to 5-5. At 11-8 in Buffalo's favor, the Bulls went on a five-point run to bring the score to a 16-8. Veith ended the run with a kill and a Buffalo error brought the score within six (16-10). However, Buffalo continued to pull ahead and finished with a 25-18 victory. Sophomore setter Alyssa Bennett (Ramona, Calif. / Ramona) and senior Jessy Nelko (Aliquippa, Pa. / Hopewell) led the Colonials in set one with three kills each.
Buffalo also took set two with an identical 25-18 score. The set started with the two squads trading attack errors. Midway through the set, Buffalo's Lindsey Schlegel tallied a kill to bring the score to 13-8, giving the Bulls their largest lead of the game. RMU slowly cut into Buffalo's lead when Veith tallied her second kill of the set to bring the score to 15-12. Several more kills by the Bulls enabled them to pull ahead for the set two win.
The Colonials came back in set three with a lot of energy and tallied the first three points with junior Jaye Hellmich (Costa Mesa, Calif. / Estancia) tallying an ace in the process. Several errors by the Bulls gave RMU a 7-3 lead, however, Buffalo was able to work its way back into the set and tied the score 8-8 off a kill by Kelsey Lueders. The two squads continued to trade points until junior Mackenzie Tonn (Fishers, Ind. / Hamilton Southeastern) went on a three point serving run, with Hellmich tallying back-to-back kills, to bring the score to 14-11 in RMU's favor. Once again, Buffalo tallied some key kills to tie the score up at 15-15. The Colonials and the Bulls battled back and forth for several points until the score was set at 24-23 in the Bulls favor. Freshman Amanda Craig (Houston, Texas / St. Agnes Academy) took a hard swing and grabbed a kill for the Colonials to tie things up 24-24 and at 25-25, Craig went back to the serving line a tallied an ace, which was followed by a kill by junior Addie Jennings (Santa Barbara, Calif. / Dos Pueblos) for the 27-25 set win.
In the final set Buffalo tallied 15 kills to Robert Morris's 10 to take the 25-21 set win and match win. The score remained within one or two until Buffalo began to space out the score to 17-10 and continued to lead for the remainder of play.
Hellmich led all hitters with 11 kills on a .429 hitting percentage, while also tallying six blocks. Craig also recorded six stuffs to go along with 10 kills, two service aces and nine digs. Bennett finished the game with 32 assists, four kills, four blocks, three service aces and 12 digs and junior libero Corinne Moser (Meyersdale, Pa. / Meyersdale) tallied a team high 13 digs. Freshman Nicole Wiechecki (Wilmington, Del / Ursuline Academy) was the final Colonial to tally double-digit digs with 11 and also added two service aces.
The Colonials return to action on Friday, Sept. 11 when they take on Northern Iowa in the Best Western Falcon Plaza Invitational at 4:30 p.m.
