Moon Township, Pa. – In front of a packed crowd of family, friends and alumnae, the Robert Morris University volleyball team rolled to a 3-0 victory over Northeast Conference opponent Saint Francis U to kick off Family Weekend Saturday afternoon in the Charles L. Sewall Center.
 
With the victory, the Colonials (12-11, 6-2) completed the season sweep of the Red Flash (4-19, 2-6), and boosted their conference record to 6-2.
 
Sophomore setter Brianna Frakes commanded the offense with 31 assists and tallied 10 digs to record her second double-double of the season and ninth of her career. Junior Leah Dunivan and senior Kristin Thompson led the attack with 10 kills apiece. Dunivan went 10-for-19 (.474) at the net and also anchored the defense with four block assists. Thompson sent the ball to the floor 10 times on 18 attempts (.556) and committed no errors. The lone senior boasted a spectacular all-around performance, as she served up a match-high three aces, tallied two digs and added one block assist.
 
As a team, RMU recorded a season-best .396 team hitting percentage, and for the second time under head coach Dale Starr, allowed zero blocks.

The Red Flash made their best effort to slow down the Colonials in set two, when they held a brief lead early in the frame, but back-to-back kills from Thompson put the home team ahead, 7-6, and RMU led the rest of the way.
 
After slow starts in their two last outings on the road, the Colonials achieved their top goal for today's match and set the tone early as they went on a 5-1 run to open the first set. The Red Flash pulled within three at 8-5, but failed to maintain momentum as RMU surged ahead with help from freshman Taylor Lord who served for six-straight points. RMU won sets one and two by 10 and 11 points, respectively.
 
Only six matches remain in the regular season, including four at home, starting with a Halloween showdown with three-time defending NEC champion LIU Brooklyn on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 3 p.m. followed by a 3 p.m. start against St. Francis Brooklyn on Sunday, Nov. 1.
 
Head Coach Dale Starr
On getting off to a better start than in the last two matches…
That was our top goal today. We were down 8-0, 8-2 in our last two matches on the road, so that's really been our focus all week, really starting out fast and being efficient and really getting into our rhythm and our game as quickly as possible. I was really pleased with how well we came out and started all three sets.
 
On running away with the second set…
It's just a matter of staying the course and we knew that first set, really a lot of their points came from our errors. They didn't block a single ball on us today. So those seven errors were all us hitting the ball out of bounds or in the net. Really, in a three-set match, seven errors is great. I'm not sure we've ever played a match here where we didn't get blocked one time. I thought that we were very efficient. [Hitting] .396 is by far our most efficient match that we've played all year. Two kids in double figures [in kills] in a three-set match, both middles, that doesn't happen very often. And Arden Fisher having almost 20 digs, defense was fantastic, we dug a little over 20 balls a game. I couldn't be happier with the way we came out. If we can continue to play at this level, we're going to be right in the thick of things.
 
 
The Last Time
The last time a Robert Morris team held its opponent to zero blocks was on Nov. 12, 2011, at home versus Quinnipiac. The Colonials defeated the Bobcats, 3-0.
 
One for the Record Books
RMU's team attack percentage of .396 posted in today's match checks in at 10^th all-time in Colonials match records.
 
Stepping Up
Kristin Thompson is hitting .387 in NEC action and has recorded kills in double figures in seven of eight conference matches played, including the last five.
 
 
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