Bronx, N.Y. – Sept. 5, 2015 – The Robert Morris University volleyball team completed a clean sweep of the competition at the Rose Hill Classic when they capped a perfect 3-0 weekend with a shutout victory over host university Fordham Saturday afternoon to earn the tournament title, the first under head coach Dale Starr.

Freshman setter Liz Campbell was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player, while junior Leah Dunivan and senior Kristin Thompson also made the Rose Hill Classic All-Tournament Team.

"Liz [Campbell] is learning and Brianna [Frakes] is doing a good job teaching, and as Liz starts getting more comfortable her natural ability is starting to come out," said Starr. "I wasn't really paying too much attention to her stats, but I didn't realize she almost had three straight double-doubles [29 assists, 11 digs vs. Georgetown; 24 assists, 10 digs vs. Niagara; 28 assists, 5 digs vs. Fordham]. Her learning curve is pretty deep. She's doing a nice job of adjusting. She did a nice job today of calling our offense. She's very coachable and she makes those changes pretty quickly. It's great for her, it's well deserved. She had a great weekend and her assist numbers are getting better and better."

The Colonials (5-2) secured their second consecutive shutout victory, as they needed just three sets to defeat the Rams (2-5) and continue their trend of nonconference success.

RMU opened the match with its best defensive outing of the season, as they limited Fordham to just 10 points and three kills on a -.167 attack percentage and posted two of seven total team blocks in the first set. The Rams kept it close in set two, but failed to recover from a 7-1 spurt that put the Colonials in good position to close out the set with a 24-21 lead. Fordham never led in the third as Robert Morris controlled the set and rolled to a 25-20 victory and 3-0 match win.

"Our ball control was a lot better and that allowed us to open up our offense," Starr added. "Our middles were great this weekend and we rotated them. We really didn't skip a beat with the middles. All three of them performed well this weekend. They blocked really well and they played great offensively. If we can get all three middles contributing we're going to be tough to shut down."

Junior Arden Fisher tabbed her fourth double-double of the season and led the Colonials with 11 kills, 14 digs and two aces. Fisher leads the Colonials with 99 kills through seven matches played this year. Thompson contributed eight kills, while April Krivoniak added seven kills and a season-high 12 digs. Campbell dished out 28 assists and averages 8.96 per set. Fellow freshman Brianna Schmid remains reliable at the net, as she led the defense with five total blocks (one solo, four assists).

"It's been fun going into the gym every day with these girls," said Starr. "They've got a great work ethic, they work hard and they want to keep getting better. As long as we keep improving and work hard I'll be happy."

GETTING THE BALL ROLLING
Robert Morris is off to its best start in nonconference action under head coach Dale Starr since his 2011 team tabbed a total of five wins versus opponents outside of the Northeast Conference in 2011; additionally, the Colonials are off to their best start since opening the 2008 season at 6-1
 
BLOCK PARTY
The Colonials have outmatched their opponents in total blocks in all seven matches on the young season; they average 2.5 stuffs per set, while their opponents average a collective 1.2 per set
 
ALL-TOURNAMENT TALENT
A participant from Robert Morris has been named the Most Valuable Player in both tournaments the Colonials have competed in this year; most recently, Liz Campbell was named MVP of the Rose Hill Classic and Arden Fisher was named MVP of the Robert Morris Invitational earlier this season
 
SEEING DOUBLE
Arden Fisher posted her fourth double-double of the year and 26^th of her career in today's victory over Fordham
 
 
The Colonials return to campus for a few days before embarking on their next road trip to New Mexico and Texas for the Borderland Invitational Sept. 11-12.

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