Volleyball | 11/8/2018 10:54:00 PM

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The Robert Morris volleyball team concludes its 2018 regular season with a pair of Northeast Conference matches, as it hosts the Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson University on Friday and the Pioneers of Sacred Heart University on Saturday.

First serve against FDU is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. ET, and first serve against SHU is slated for 5:00 p.m. at the North Athletic Complex in Moon Township, Pennsylvania. Admission to both matches is free, and both can be seen live on NEC Front Row.

Robert Morris (10-17, 4-8) vs. Fairleigh Dickinson & Sacred Heart
Fri., Nov. 9 vs. Fairleigh Dickinson (7:00 p.m.) - LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS
Sat., Nov. 10 vs. Sacred Heart (5:00 p.m.) - LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS

COMPLETE NOTES PACKAGE: Robert Morris vs. Fairleigh Dickinson & Sacred Heart (Nov. 9-10, 2018) (PDF)

Saturday marks Senior Night for the Colonials, who will honor their three members of this year's RMU graduating class. Former setter and current middle blocker Liz Campbell, libero Allie Yurkovich and outside hitter Taylor Lord will be recognized at the conclusion of that match, their last as collegians.



RMU has a commanding 32-7 lead in its all-time series with the Knights, and it continued that success with an Oct. 12 sweep (25-19, 25-22, 25-21) at the Rothman Center in Hackensack, New Jersey in their last meeting. Emma Granger led the field with 15 kills on a .480 average.

The Colonials also took a straight-set result (26-24, 25-16, 25-23) over FDU on its last visit to RMU, Sept. 30, 2017. Granger also topped all competitors that day with her 14 kills and five service aces on a .323 clip.

Robert Morris aims for its first win over SHU since Oct. 27, 2017 at the Pitt Center in Fairfield, Connecticut, when it overcame a two-set deficit to earn the victory (23-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-20, 18-16). Maria Alfano led the rally with a career-high 18 kills, adding seven total blocks.

The Pios won their last meeting in four sets on Oct. 13 at the Pitt Center, despite a team-high 13 kills (.346) from Granger. However, the Colonials still hold a substantial lead, 23-10, in their all-time series with Sacred Heart.

Last Time Out
The Colonials, while stomping out Saint Francis University in straight sets (25-21, 25-22, 25-20) at the North Athletic Complex last Friday, raised $1,000 for the Angel Fund, part of the Winchester Medical Center Foundation, which helps cover treatment costs for cancer patients. Taylor Lord, who helped organize the fundraiser, recorded eight kills and ten digs.

Scouting The Opponents
Fairleigh Dickinson (2-26, 0-12) concluded its own home schedule in Week 11 with straight-set losses to Central Connecticut and Bryant last Friday and Saturday, respectively. Rookie libero Jaelyn Young is averaging 3.57 digs per set in conference play, good for seventh in the NEC. Young dug nine attempts and made three assists the last time she faced Robert Morris. Sacred Heart (14-9, 7-5) fell to Bryant in five sets at home last Friday but rebounded with a sweep of visiting CCSU last Saturday. Molten/NEC Rookie of the Week Sarah Ciszek leads the NEC with 9.10 assists per set and made 34, plus 12 digs and eight kills, versus RMU Oct. 13.



MUSKET SHOTS

Home Is Where Your Heart Is
Sacred Heart will have been both the first and last opponent for Robert Morris at the North Athletic Complex, its temporary home. Entering Friday, the Colonials are 11-6 (.647) overall at home since the permanent closure of the Charles L. Sewall Center for Leadership at the conclusion of the Robert Morris Invitational Sept. 16, 2017. "The Chuck" has since been demolished to make room for the 4,000-seat UPMC Events Center, the new, state-of-the-art home of the volleyball program beginning next season.

Righteous In-Dig-Nation
Allie Yurkovich enters Friday fourth in Robert Morris history in both career digs, with 1,643, and career digs per set, with 3.63. She ranks fifth in the NEC with 4.29 per set this season and third with 4.94 per set in NEC play. Yurkovich, who has made at least 20 digs in seven of her past nine matches overall, is also expected to surpass Melissa Bograd '15 for seventh place at RMU in career sets played (453).

Keepin' It 100
With her second-set ace versus Loyola Sept. 7, Taylor Lord became the 11th player in RMU history to amass 100 career service aces. Emma Granger, with an ace in the third at SFBK Oct. 26, became the 12th, and she leads the NEC (18th, NCAA) with 0.47 aces per set. Granger ranks seventh in Division I with her 48 total aces in 2018. She tied her career single-match high with six versus SFU last Friday, including four straight in the first set. Granger is the first RMU player in the 25-point era with six in a single match on three all-time occasions. She also did it against visiting Saint Francis on Nov. 3, 2017.

Lord Have Mercy
Taylor Lord enters Friday with 920 career kills and 3,125 career attempts, leading all active Colonials in both categories. Her 111 career service aces put her seventh in program history, same as her all-time average of 0.27 per set. Additionally, Lord ranks ninth in RMU lore with her 1,361 career digs, and sixth all-time with her 3.28 per-set average. She hit .345 with 11 kills and seven digs at the Rothman Center Oct. 28, 2017, the last time she faced Fairleigh Dickinson.

Bob-ing For Apples
Liz Campbell, in addition to a .952 career serve percentage that ranks eighth in school history, is also ninth all-time at RMU with her average of 3.55 assists per set entering Friday. Meanwhile, when Brown had a career-high 58 versus Loyola (Md.) in RMU's five-set win Sept. 7, it tied for the most single-match assists by a Colonial in NCAA volleyball's 25-point era (2008-present). Only two other RMU players (Darcey Miller, Tawnya Storino) have ever registered more assists in a five-set match, and the last one with 58 was Hannah Hoffman versus Bryant Oct. 8, 2011.

Granger Things, Season 2
Emma Granger, the Week 11 Molten/NEC Player of the Week, ranks fifth in the conference with her .281 attack average, fifth with 0.91 blocks per set and tenth with 2.62 kills per set. Against NEC foes, she has hit .286, now up to fifth, and her 1.02 blocks per set in conference play also rank seventh. The two-time Player of the Week led RMU against Saint Francis last Friday with 12 kills on a .409 average while making six total blocks. Granger hit a combined .412 at FDU and SHU Oct. 12-13.

Only On Net Flicks
Maria Alfano and Skylar Clements have taken turns giving fellow second-year middle blocker Granger strong support at her position. Alfano ranks seventh overall in the NEC with her .276 attack average and ninth with her 0.84 blocks per set. Last Friday she hit a season-high .600 against SFU, and she combined for a .421 average at FDU and SHU Oct. 12-13. Clements has averaged 0.85 blocks per set against NEC competition, which virtually puts her inside the conference's top ten coming into this weekend.

Native Whit
Pittsburgh-raised Whitney Brown has received three NEC Prime Performer selections this season, most recently for her Week 7 efforts. She averaged 10.62 assists per set versus St. Francis Brooklyn and LIU Brooklyn Oct. 5-6, her best weekend average in NEC play. Brown is third in the NEC with 8.12 assists per set and sixth in RMU lore with 6.44 per set all-time.

A Lot To Un-Pack
Megan Cannon achieved new season highs in assists in each of her last two home matches. She picked up 38 apples and added a personal-best 14 digs against Central Connecticut Oct. 19 for the second double-double of her rookie campaign. Cannon outdid herself Oct. 20 with 49 helpers versus Bryant. Hannah Hoffman's 58 versus Bryant Oct. 8, 2011 remain the most by an RMU rookie in a five-set match.

Youth Will Be Served
Dale Starr welcomed twice as many freshmen in 2017 (eight) as in 2018, matching the 2014 squad for the most rookies on a Starr-coached Colonials team, whereas his 2018 junior class, for the first time in his tenure, is nonexistent. Previously, his 2010, 2012 and 2014 rosters each featured only one junior, while the 2013 team remains, for the time being, his only senior-less one since joining Robert Morris.

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