Volleyball | 10/30/2017 7:01:00 PM
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The
Robert Morris University volleyball team plays its final non-conference match of the regular season in advance of the NEC stretch run when it visits West Virginia University for a 6:00 p.m. first serve at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, W.Va. Tuesday.
RMU has met West Virginia annually since 2011, most recently falling in straight sets at the Sewall Center Oct. 12, 2016. However, the Colonials were victorious, 3-1 (25-14, 15-25, 25-21, 25-18), on their last trip to the Coliseum, Oct. 7, 2015.
COMPLETE NOTES PACKAGE: Robert Morris at West Virginia (10/31/17)
Last Time Out
Robert Morris rallied from a 2-0 deficit for a dramatic 3-2 win (23-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-20, 18-16) at Sacred Heart this past Friday, not to mention a season sweep of the Pioneers.
Maria Alfano led RMU with a season-high 18 kills, hitting a team-best .436. The Colonials extended their winning streak to four matches on Saturday with their second straight-set victory (25-7, 25-19, 25-21) over Fairleigh Dickinson in 2017 and fourth in a row dating back to last season. This time,
Taylor Lord and
Emma Granger led the attack with 11 kills apiece.
Their last foray outside the NEC resulted in a straight-set victory (25-20, 25-20, 25-21) over Rutgers Sept. 16 and a split of the two-day Robert Morris Invitational. It was the last major collegiate sporting event of any kind held at the Sewall Center, which began undergoing demolition Oct. 20 to make room for the UPMC Events Center, which the RMU volleyball team will call home beginning in 2019.
Making History
With 3,058 all-time assists, senior setter
Brianna Frakes became the fourth player in Robert Morris history to reach 3,000 in the come-from-behind win at SHU. She began her NCAA career as an understudy to Hannah Hoffman, who became the most recent Colonial to collect that many helpers (3,606 total) while playing for Robert Morris 2011-2014. Darcey Miller '04 (4,557) and Tawnya Storino '07 (3,617) top the list.
Scouting The Opponent
West Virginia (14-9, 3-7) has struggled to sixth place in the Big 12 Conference thus far, having faced three different nationally-ranked opponents and coming off a straight-set loss at No. 3 Texas Saturday, but the Mountaineers have acquitted themselves very well outside of conference play. In their most recent non-conference action they ran the table against Akron (3-0), host Army (3-2) and Providence (3-1) at the Black Knights Invitational in West Point, N.Y. Sept. 15-16. Sophomore outside hitter Payton Caffrey, a first-team all-conference and all-rookie honoree in 2016 and a Preseason All-Big 12 Team selection in 2017, leads the Big 12 with 39 service aces, putting her into a four-way tie for 20th place in Division I through Saturday.
About Robert Morris
The Colonials were predicted to finish in fifth place in the 2017 NEC Preseason Coaches' Poll. RMU missed qualifying for its 18th consecutive NEC Tournament by just one game last season. In each of the last 18 seasons, the Colonials have posted a winning record in league competition, which stands as the longest such streak of any NEC member, past or present.
MUSKET SHOTS
Take Me Home, Country Roads
This Halloween contest will be a particularly special one for Lord, the Musselman H.S. product, who gets to return to her home state, where she excelled academically and won two state championships and earned both MaxPreps High School All-American and Gatorade West Virginia Volleyball Player of the Year honors. In that Oct. 7, 2015 Robert Morris victory, her only other visit to WVU, Lord finished with 15 digs, seven kills and two aces against the Mountaineers. The junior outside hitter made six kills and ten digs in last year's meeting at "The Chuck." On Friday at SHU she finished with her ninth double-double of 2017 (ten kills and ten digs) and made a season-best five total blocks.
Raising The Frakes
After etching her name into Robert Morris program history, assist leader
Brianna Frakes is also eyeing a climb to the top of the NEC leaderboard in 2017. Frakes, who led the conference in helpers per set (9.14) in 2015 as a sophomore and came in second in that category as a junior (8.43), is holding steady at third in the NEC with 8.84 per set. She was named an NEC Prime Performer Monday for reaching the aforementioned 3,000-assist plateau and for earning her fifth double-double in a row, as well as her team-best 11th of the year, at Fairleigh Dickinson (36 assists, 11 digs).
Right Pl-ace, Right Time
Two newcomers, four-time Molten/NEC Rookie of the Week
Emma Granger, and outside hitter
Alyson Londot, an NEC Rookie of the Week honoree Sept. 25, have emerged as the two biggest threats in this year's revamped RMU service rotation. Granger leads the conference and is tied for third in Division with 53 total service aces. Londot is tied for fourth in the NEC with 30 aces, and Robert Morris, as a team, sits third nationally with 1.83 aces per set. At SHU Friday, also capping off her birthday week, Londot delivered match point to cap the Colonials' comeback. Granger, meanwhile, made a personal-best ten total blocks, along with 13 kills, in that match, her first double-double.
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