Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University volleyball team closed out their home slate with a 3-1 victory over Fairleigh Dickinson on Sunday afternoon.  With the victory, the Colonials are guaranteed no worse than the second seed in upcoming Northeast Conference tournament.  With set scores of 21-25, 25-17, 25-20, and 25-19; the Colonials picked up their fifth consecutive win and seventh straight victory in NEC play.

To open the contest, the two teams would exchange multi-point runs that would eventually put RMU ahead by a score of 10-7.  FDU would respond by taking 12 of the next 18 points while not allowing the Colonials to create a run of points.  The Knights would hold a three-point advantage of their own with the score 16-19.  Robert Morris would respond and tie the game by taking the next three points.  With the score tied 19-19, Fairleigh Dickinson would take six of the final eight points to win the first set 21-25.  Sophomore Hannah Hoffman (Parker, Colo. / Ponderosa) would have a hand in nine of the Colonials' ten kills in the set as she tallied four kills while assisting on five others.

In the second set, Robert Morris would take four of the first five points as the early advantage would be too much for the Knights to overcome.  The Colonials' lead would fluctuate between three and five points throughout the majority of the match, but the Colonials would hold their biggest lead of eight points at the end of the match when they won the set 25-17.  In the set, the Colonials hit .344 as sophomore Sydney Sizemore (Covington, Ky. / Holy Cross) paced the team with four kills on seven attempts.

Coming out of the intermission, Robert Morris would allow the Knights to score the first three points.  RMU would respond with a six-point run to take the lead away from FDU with the score 8-6.  Fairleigh Dickinson would keep the set close but the Colonials would fend off any threat the Knights posed as RMU took the set 25-20 to take the lead in the match.  Sizemore continued her torrid match as she hit .727 with eight kills on eleven attempts.

In the fourth and final set, RMU would jump out to a three-point advantage with the score 9-6 before Fairleigh Dickinson would tie the set with the score 10-10.  The two teams would each take eight of the next sixteen points to remain tied at 18-18.  The Colonials would close out the set by taking seven of the final eight points to win 25-19.  In the set, seniors Amanda Craig (Houston, Texas / St. Agnes Academy) and Lindsey Monger (Rising Sun Md. / Rising Sun) would combine for twelve of the team's sixteen kills.

Monger would finish the game with her second double-double of the weekend as she collected fourteen kills and nineteen digs.  The fourteen digs were a team-high that was also accomplished by Sizemore as the two outside hitters combined for half of the Colonials kills in the match.  Hoffman would finish with 49 assists in the match while contributing six kills to the offensive attack.  On the defensive side, Monger and sophomore Erica Robb (Novi, Mich. / Novi) each recorded double-digit kills as Robb finished the match with thirteen.  Six different Colonials registered a block in the match as the team was paced by sophomore Becky Jay (Parma, Ohio / Padua Franciscan) who had a hand in five of the team's nine blocks.

The Colonials will have their final non-conference game of the season as they make the short trip to the University of Pittsburgh for a match on Tuesday evening at 7:00 p.m.  Robert Morris will then conclude the regular season with a pair of NEC contests in Brooklyn, N.Y. on Saturday and Sunday.