Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University volleyball team played a team from the Big Twelve Conference for the first time in program history and came out victorious in five sets against the visiting West Virginia Mountaineers on Tuesday night.  The Colonials prevailed by scores of 25-17, 25-17, 19-25, 18-25, and 15-13 in the five-set thriller.

A pair of Colonials each notched a double-double on the evening to help lead Robert Morris to victory.  Senior Lindsey Monger (Rising Sun, Md. / Rising Sun) registered her fifth-straight double-double as she recorded 20 kills and 22 digs.  The other Colonial to accomplish a double-double was sophomore Erica Robb (Novi, Mich. / Novi) as she registered 11 kills and 16 digs.  Monger, Robb, and sophomore Becky Jay (Parma, Ohio / Padua Franciscan) all scored at least ten points in the victory.

In the opening set, Robert Morris came out and quickly scored the first four points while opening the match on a 7-1 run that forced the Mountaineers to call their first timeout.  RMU's six-point lead would hold until a score of 10-4; at that point, West Virginia would rally back with a run of their own to bring the score to within two at 11-9.  The run would force Robert Morris to call its first timeout and brought WVU's momentum to a halt.  The Colonials would answer with another sustained run as they took five of the next six points to bring their lead back to six points with the score 16-10.  RMU would stretch their lead to nine at 23-14 before winning the set by a score of 25-17.

The second set saw neither team gain an early advantage as the score was tied at five.  The Colonials were able to maintain serve as they gathered the next four points and forced West Virginia to call their first timeout of the set.  The four-point lead for Robert Morris would fluctuate between three and six points until the Mountaineers called their second timeout with the score 19-13.  RMU would again hold a nine-point advantage, this time at 24-15 before claiming the second set with an identical score as the first, 25-17.

Coming out of the intermission, the two teams began the third set in a similar fashion to the second at they pushed each other to a tie at six points.  The Mountaineers would score the next three points that caused the Colonials to call their first timeout.  Robert Morris would come out of the timeout and promptly gain the momentum scoring the next seven points to give them the lead with the score at 13-9.  West Virginia would then outscore the Colonials by a two-to-one margin to regain the lead with the score 17-18.  Robert Morris would never regain the lead as WVU would end the set on a 13-2 run that started when the Colonials were leading 17-12, and ended the set with the score 19-25.

Like the previous two sets, the two teams evenly competed to a tied score at eight points each.  West Virginia would slowly gain an advantage over the Colonials as they created a four-point lead with the score 15-19.  Their advantage would grow to seven as the Mountaineers would win the set 18-25 to force a match-deciding fifth set.

The fifth and final set saw back-and-forth action that summed up the entire match.  The Colonials would jump out to an early 3-1 advantage.  West Virginia would then go on a 5-1 run to gain their two-point advantage with the score 4-6.  Robert Morris would respond with the next two points to tie the game at six before becoming the first team to eight points at they held an 8-7 advantage as the teams switched sides.  The two teams would trade points until the score became even at 11.  The Mountaineers quickly accrued the next two points to come within two points of coming back from two sets down.  The Colonials, however, had a better ending in mind.  The team rattled off the final four points of set to come back from a two-point deficit and the brink of dropping a match they were up two sets in.  The 15-13 set win gave the Colonials their first victory against a Big Twelve Conference opponent and their fourth against West Virginia.

The Colonials travel to Texas to compete in their final regular-season tournament this weekend.  Robert Morris opens competition in the SFA Tournament this Friday against Southern Mississippi with a 3:00 p.m. match time.