Volleyball | 9/11/2018 1:06:00 AM
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The
Robert Morris volleyball team returns to campus for its next four matches, beginning with a visit from the Penguins of Youngstown State University Tuesday night. First serve from the North Athletic Complex in Moon Township, Pennsylvania is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. EDT, and admission is free.
Tuesday is Class of 2022 Night at the NAC, sponsored by First-Year Seminar Program (FYSP) Mentors. RMU freshmen enrolled in the program are encouraged to attend, and select concessions will be made free to all fans. The match can also be seen live on NEC Front Row.
Robert Morris (3-7) vs. Youngstown State
Tue., Sept. 11 (6:00 p.m.) - LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS
COMPLETE NOTES PACKAGE: Robert Morris vs. Youngstown State (Sept. 11, 2018) (PDF)
For the Colonials this marks the continuation of one of the longest-standing non-conference rivalries in team history. Separated by roughly 60 miles and 60 minutes of Pennsylvania Turnpike travel, the teams have played each other in 35 known matches all-time* and annually since 2011, with the Penguins last coming to Robert Morris Sept. 13, 2016.
YSU took that one in four close sets at the Sewall Center, despite a double-double from
Arden Fisher (12 kills, 24 digs). Fisher became the first player in Robert Morris history to collect 1,000-plus career kills and 1,500-plus career digs that night.
The Colonials last defeated Youngstown State Sept. 20, 2011, taking a four-set result at the Beeghly Center in Youngstown, Ohio.
Hannah Hoffman topped them with 38 assists, while Hannah Veith led RMU with a double-double (12 total blocks, 11 kills), and her dozen blocks tied for the second-most in a single match in program history.
* Records from 1981-83; 1985-86 and 1988-89 are missing
Last Time Out
The Colonials outlasted host UMBC (25-21, 13-25, 11-25, 27-25, 15-8) and neighboring Loyola Maryland (21-25, 31-29, 25-20, 23-25, 15-13) in five sets each at the new UMBC Event Center in Baltimore on Friday, the first day of the Charm City Challenge, for their first winning streak of the 2018 season.
The laborious nature of those thrilling victories took its toll on the second day, which RMU concluded with a straight-set defeat at the hands of James Madison Saturday. The Dukes, winners of four in a row, claimed the tournament title, leaving the Colonials as the runner-up.
Alyson Londot, who hit .294 for the tournament, and
Skylar Clements, who registered a career-high eight kills versus JMU, were both named to the Charm City Challenge All-Tournament Team.
Scouting The Opponent
Youngstown State (6-4) has already made one trip to western Pennsylvania, posting a 2-1 record at the Duquesne Invitational in Pittsburgh Aug. 31-Sept. 1 that included a sweep of the host Dukes. Most recently, the Penguins split a pair of four-set matches with George Mason and UNC Wilmington at the University of Virginia's Jefferson Cup in Charlottesville, Virginia Saturday. Junior libero Aleah Hughes registered double-doubles in both contests, including 14 kills and 14 digs in the win over GMU, en route to all-tournament team honors. Hughes leads the Penguins with 4.08 digs per set and ranks second on the team with 2.81 kills per set entering Tuesday.
MUSKET SHOTS
From Bobby Mo To Pro
Fisher inked a three-month contract with Geneve Volley in Geneva, Switzerland, which competes in Ligue Nationale A, the top tier of Swiss professional volleyball, last fall. More recently,
Kristin Thompson '16 joined University of Nottingham of British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) and the National Volleyball League. BUCS is played Wednesdays with other English schools, and NVL is a weekend league, with Nottingham playing in its second tier.
The Ready-For-Prime-Time Players
Alyson Londot and
Whitney Brown were named NEC Prime Performers for Week 3. Londot recorded double-digit kills in three straight Robert Morris victories, and for the fourth time in a span of five matches. Brown, with her career-high 58 assists versus Loyola (Md.) Friday, tied for the most single-match assists by a Colonial in NCAA volleyball's 25-point era (2008-present) and the fourth-most in a five-set match in team history. Only two other RMU players (Darcey Miller, Tawnya Storino) have ever registered more assists in a five-setter, and the last one with 58 was
Hannah Hoffman versus Bryant Oct. 8, 2011.
Lord Have Mercy
Taylor Lord achieved her team-leading third double-double of the season versus Loyola Friday with 15 kills and 14 digs. On Aug. 29, 2017, the last time she faced Youngstown State, Lord matched her career-high with 21 kills at the Beeghly Center and added 23 digs for second double-double as a junior. She has earned a double-double in kills and digs in all three of her previous outings against the Penguins, and her next dig will give her 1,198 all-time, putting her past
Erica Robb '15 for tenth in school history.
Righteous In-Dig-Nation
Allie Yurkovich recorded 44 digs during the Charm City Challenge, bringing her to 1,315 all-time and allowing her to surpass Lindsey Monger '13 and Megan Bell '06 over the weekend to land at seventh on the Robert Morris career chart. Yurkovich enters Tuesday fifth all-time in program history with 3.42 digs per set, just ahead of Lord (3.38), and ninth in the NEC with 3.28 per set.
Nikolette Zanolli led RMU with 45 digs in the Charm City Challenge and is sixth in the conference with 3.33 per set. The Colonials, as a team, are second in the NEC with 14.88 digs per set.
Ave Maria
Maria Alfano hit .300 over both RMU wins in the Charm City Challenge, and she picked up the first service ace of her career Saturday versus James Madison. She ranks eighth in the Northeast Conference with her .249 attack average. Her seven total blocks against Loyola (Md.) Friday tied her career high, which included one of two solo blocks on the day on set point of the second set, a 31-29 Colonials win in their longest set of 2018.
The Gr8 One
2017 Northeast Conference Rookie of the Year
Emma Granger led the Colonials with eight total blocks in last year's meeting with YSU. No. 8 for Robert Morris totaled eight blocks over both of its wins in the Charm City Challenge. Only four players in RMU history have averaged better than 1.00 blocks per set for their careers, and Granger enters Tuesday seventh in program history with 0.95 per set. Currently the Colonials rank second in the NEC, with 1.83 per set.
Native Whit
Pittsburgh-born
Whitney Brown ranks fourth in the NEC with 7.37 assists per set. She leads all active Colonials and ranks sixth in program history with a career average of 5.05 assists per set. Brown has two double-doubles this year, and she narrowly missed one against Youngstown State as a rookie, finishing with 19 assists and nine digs.
Ace In The Hole
With her second-set ace versus Loyola Friday,
Taylor Lord became the 11th player in program lore to amass 100 career service aces. She ranks seventh in program history with 0.28 aces per set.
Emma Granger comes in as the RMU career leader with 0.47 per set, and the second of her three at Youngstown State last season made Robert Morris the first team to take a set from the Penguins in 2017.
Whitney Brown currently ranks sixth in the NEC with 0.34 aces per set, and her career-high five at UMBC last Friday made her the sixth different Robert Morris player to record that many in a five-set match. It was the second-most in a five-setter in program history. RMU is averaging 1.23 aces per set, third-most in the NEC.
Follow the Colonials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Snapchat
