Moon Township, Pa. – Four freshmen earned starts and five total rookies saw action on opening night of the 2015 season for the Robert Morris University volleyball team, as the Colonials dropped a 3-0 decision to the UMBC Retrievers Friday evening at the Charles L. Sewall Center.

With the win, UMBC (1-0) evened the all-time series with RMU (0-1) at six games apiece.

The Colonials opened the match with a monster block from junior April Krivoniak and freshman Brianna Schmid and nearly doubled the Retrievers' defensive output at the net on the night (eight to five), but RMU struggled to find an offensive rhythm and committed six receiving errors, which helped UMBC to the shutout victory.

The home team held an early 8-5 lead in the third set and showed promise to force a fourth, but allowed a 21-19 advantage to slip away when the Retrievers returned from a timeout and pushed four straight points to go ahead, 23-22, and secure momentum all the way to the match-clinching win.

Junior Arden Fisher led the RMU offense with nine kills, while Krivoniak followed closely with eight. Freshman Liz Campbell made her collegiate debut in the setter's spot, tallying 21 assists. Schmid turned in a solid all-around performance, hitting at a .286 clip and posting six block assists.

The 2015 Robert Morris Invitational continues tomorrow at 11 a.m. with a match between UMBC and Loyola Md. The Colonials return to action at 2:30 p.m. versus the Retrievers and cap day two of the tournament with a 6 p.m. match against the Greyhounds.

Follow RMU volleyball on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter