Moon Township, Pa. – Junior Arden Fisher turned in a career performance on day two of the 2015 Robert Morris Invitational, as the Colonials defeated UMBC in a five-set thriller and took down Loyola Maryland, 3-1, on Saturday in the Charles L. Sewall Center.

After dropping the tournament opener to UMBC (2-1) Friday evening, Robert Morris (2-1) captured its first victory of the 2015 campaign in five competitive sets (17-25, 25-23, 28-26, 11-25, 16-14) against a talented Retrievers squad. Fisher posted a career-high 23 kills and tallied 10 digs to record her first double-double of the season and 23^rd of her career. She joins Megan Bell and Lindsey Monger at fourth place in all-time individual match history at RMU in kills per match. The Oakmont, Pa., native also anchored the defensive effort at the net, as she assisted on four blocks and turned in one solo stuff. Fisher accrued a career-best 27.0 points, and in doing so, tied Bell for third all-time in the RMU individual match records for total points.

Senior Kristin Thompson made her season debut and chipped in with seven kills, nine digs and two assists. Freshman Taylor Lord racked up a team-leading 22 digs and junior Madelyn Betts made crucial plays late in the match as she hit at an efficient .300 (5-for-10).

Head coach Dale Starr was delighted to see his young squad bounce back and tough it out through five sets against the same team the Colonials had fallen to in three straight sets less than 24 hours prior.

"We made some game plan adjustments and I think for the most part we stuck pretty well to them," he explained. "[UMBC] made some adjustments, too. They did some things differently against us than they did on Friday, so I was pleased with the way our kids made adjustments. We're young. We have four freshmen [starters] out there. The fact that they saw something yesterday and made changes today and were successful today tells me that we're on the right track."

Fisher came up big once again in the Colonials' 3-1 (25-21, 25-23, 21-25, 25-20) win over Loyola Maryland. She notched another 20-plus kill performance (21) and paced the defense with 14 digs to earn back-to-back double-doubles and another 20-plus point game (21.5).

"She was outstanding today," Starr said of Fisher. "She has never [posted 20-plus kills in consecutive games] before. She struggled a bit in our match yesterday, but she definitely made up for it today."

Freshman setter Liz Campbell dished out a career-high 44 assists and matched junior Leah Dunivan's team-best six block assists. Dunivan tabbed 12 kills at a .500 clip.

"We've got a long way to go," admitted Starr. "By no means are we where we want to be, but you can't transplant heart. You can't coach it and this team's got it. They battled and they never gave up and we got down in set five, set two, set three and we found a way to win. I'm pleased with our effort."

2015 Robert Morris Invitational All-Tournament Team
Loyola Maryland
#8 Haley Puddy
UMBC
#9 Makenzie Morgen
#10 Maddie Schneider
ROBERT MORRIS
#7 Arden Fisher (MVP)
#8 Leah Dunivan


STARTING STRONG
For the first time since head coach Dale Starr's inaugural season in 2010, RMU has won one or more matches in its season-opening tournament (the Colonials went two-for-four in the 2010 Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational)
 
BLOCK PARTY
The Colonials have outmatched their opponents in total blocks in all three matches on the young season
 
SEEING DOUBLE
Junior Arden Fisher posted back-to-back double-doubles in today's victories over UMBC and Loyola Md., and in doing so, tallied 20-plus kills in consecutive matches for the first time in her career, including a career-high 23 kills versus the Retrievers; Fisher boasts 24 career double-doubles
 
The Colonials welcome crosstown rival Duquesne University in their next home appearance on Tuesday, Sept. 1 at 7 p.m.

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