Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University volleyball team celebrated its Senior Day in style, sweeping in-state rival Saint Francis University this afternoon from the Charles L. Sewall Center.
Robert Morris (13-15, 11-1 NEC) completed a regular-season sweep of Saint Francis U. (11-15, 7-5 NEC) for the eighth consecutive year and clinched a top two position in the Northeast Conference (NEC) standings.
The Colonials hit at a .279 clip as a team, with senior outside hitter
Alena Esposito and junior middle blocker
Kristin Thompson leading the way at .556 and .385, respectively. Esposito tallied five kills on the afternoon, while Thompson collected seven.
Sophomore outside hitter
Arden Fisher led the team with 10 kills and added 13 digs to register her third consecutive double-double and her 12th of the season.
Seniors
Melissa Bograd and
Erica Robb paced RMU in digs with 17 apiece as the Colonials collected 62 as a team. Their classmate
Becky Jay tallied a team-high five block assists, moving her within 11 total blocks of breaking the program record set by Kristie Tuxford (1992-95).
Setters
Hannah Hoffman and
Brianna Frakes dished out 20 and 13 assists, respectively.
Energized by the largest crowd of the season at the Sewall Center, the Colonials ripped off four rallies of at least four points in a 25-17 set one victory. Esposito converted on all three of her swings, while Fisher tallied a team-high four kills in the frame.
RMU continued riding its big wave of momentum, easily dispatching of the Red Flash in the second set, 25-13. Fisher picked up another four kills in the stanza, while Robb served up two aces.
The Colonials completed the sweep with a 25-19 win in the third set.
RMU and SFU traded the first four points of the frame before a kill from Thompson and an attack error gave the Colonials the lead. The Red Flash picked up a kill to pull within one, but would give two points back with two more mishits. After a kill from Hannah Kutny of SFU, RMU responded with kills from Thompson, Esposito, and Robb to extend its lead to five.
The teams traded points once again as the score went from 9-5 to 12-8. The Red Flash tallied a kill and took advantage of a Fisher mishit to pull within two, but three consecutive Colonial points forced a SFU timeout at 15-10.
The break seemed to help the Red Flash temporarily as they tallied two straight points to cut the RMU lead to three. SFU pulled within two a little later at 18-16, but the Colonials rattled off five points thanks to two kills from senior outside hitter
Sydney Sizemore, a successful attack from Robb, a block from her and Jay, and an attack error.
The Red Flash picked up three of the next four points to keep hope alive, but Jay finished the match off with her fifth kill.
After the match, RMU honored its seven seniors:
Melissa Bograd,
Alena Esposito,
Hannah Hoffman,
Becky Jay,
Erica Robb,
Sydney Sizemore, and
Breanna Surgot. The group has been a part of 42 NEC victories during their careers.
Robert Morris finishes off the regular season next weekend with a trip to Brooklyn. The Colonials will take on St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday, Nov. 15. Opening serve is set for 1:00 p.m. from the Genovesi Center.
