Volleyball | 9/27/2018 8:07:00 PM
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The
Robert Morris volleyball team continues Northeast Conference play when it travels to take on the arch-rival Red Flash of Saint Francis University Friday night. First serve from DeGol Arena in Loretto, Pennsylvania is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. EDT, and the match can be seen live on NEC Front Row.
Robert Morris (6-10, 0-2) at Saint Francis U
Fri., Sept. 28 (7:00 p.m.) - LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS
COMPLETE NOTES PACKAGE: Robert Morris at Saint Francis U (9/28/18) (PDF)
This will be the 70th all-time* meeting between the intra-state combatants, a series in which Robert Morris has prevailed 60 times and, for that matter, in 19 consecutive matches.
On Nov. 3, 2017 the Colonials completed a season sweep of the Red Flash with a dramatic five-set, come-from-behind victory (25-11, 20-25, 16-25, 25-17, 16-14) at the North Athletic Complex that knocked Saint Francis out of postseason contention and put Robert Morris in the NEC Tournament for the 18th time in 19 seasons.
RMU defeated SFU in four sets (19-25, 25-16, 25-23, 25-22) in its last visit to DeGol Arena Sept. 22, 2017.
Allie Yurkovich surpassed the 1,000-career dig mark in that win, and
Alyson Londot made a career-high 30 digs that would prove good enough for Molten/NEC Rookie of the Week honors, also contributing nine kills and two assists.
*Records from 1981-83; 1985-86 and 1988-89 are missing
Last Time Out
Maria Alfano returned to the lineup for the first time since Sept. 8, finishing with four kills and one block assist over the last two sets, but the rest of the Colonials offense was unable to find rhythm in a straight-set loss at Central Connecticut to open NEC play last Friday.
Last Saturday, RMU continued conference play by nearly pulling out another characteristic five-set triumph, but took a five-set loss to host Bryant instead.
Emma Granger led the Colonials with 14 kills on a .258 average and three service aces, and she co-led the team with four total blocks.
Scouting The Opponent
Saint Francis U (1-14, 0-2) is also coming off a pair of losses at Bryant and Central Connecticut to begin its NEC slate, falling in three and four sets, respectively. Despite their slow start to the season, the Red Flash boast two of the most prolific young players in the conference.
Outside hitter Madi Tyus, the Week 1 NEC Rookie of the Week, recorded a double-double (18 kills, ten digs) at CCSU, and she ranks second in the conference with 3.36 kills per set. Tyus is also inside the NEC's top ten for service aces (0.25) and digs (3.16) per set entering Friday.
Middle blocker and fellow newcomer Nicole Adams ended her weekend with eight kills against the Blue Devils, as well as a team-leading five total blocks. She is ninth in the NEC with 2.61 kills per set.
Meanwhile, Coraopolis natives Cecilia (26.0) and Sophia (23.0) Esposito respectively rank second and third on the team in total blocks.
MUSKET SHOTS
Lord Have Mercy
Taylor Lord achieved her team-leading fourth double-double of the season versus Central Connecticut Sept. 21 with ten kills and ten digs. She is averaging 2.00 kills per set and 3.83 digs per set for her career against Saint Francis. Lord has one previous double-double versus the Red Flash, at the Sewall Center Oct. 15, 2016 (14 kills, 15 digs), and she made a season-high 24 digs the last time she faced SFU.
Righteous In-Dig-Nation
Allie Yurkovich made the RMU Sheraton Innvitational All-Tournament Team and was named Molten/NEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career after averaging a team-high 3.93 digs per set Sept. 14-15. Yurkovich has climbed to eighth on the Robert Morris career chart with 1,423 after tying her career high of 26 at Bryant last Saturday. She enters Friday fifth in RMU lore with 3.46 digs per set all-time, just ahead of Lord (3.34), and seventh in the NEC with 3.65 per set this season.
Cardiac Colonials
Robert Morris has won five five-set matches in six opportunities in 2018, coming from behind in all five wins and coming back from a 2-0 deficit twice at home: versus Kent State Sept. 4 and against Houston Sept. 15. In doing so, the Colonials have already equaled their most five-set wins in any single season under
Dale Starr. They went 5-2 in five-setters in 2014, although their best winning percentage in five-setters under Starr happened in 2015, when they went 3-1 (.750).
The Sky's The Limit
Skylar Clements has made an impact off the bench during
Maria Alfano's recovery from an upper-body injury. She has established career highs in kills twice this year, most recently versus Eastern Michigan Sept. 14, and her four total blocks at Bryant last Saturday marked the second time she has equaled that career high. Clements hit .364 on the first weekend of NEC play, fourth-best among all qualified players.
Wonder Woman
Emma Granger received her first career Molten/NEC Player of the Week Award for her Week 4 efforts, including her performance in the RMU Sheraton Innvitational. She made the all-tournament team after hitting .326 for the weekend and averaging a team-best 3.29 kills per set while leading RMU in kills for all three tournament matches. Granger is fifth in the NEC with her .285 attack average entering Friday, and her .295 clip on the first weekend of NEC play was also good for fifth in the conference.
Native Whit
Pittsburgh-raised
Whitney Brown has climbed to second in the NEC with 7.92 assists per set. She leads all active Colonials and ranks sixth in program history with a career average of 5.88 per set. Brown has amassed 664 helpers all-time after last weekend, moving her past Andrea Catucci '13 for No. 13 on the RMU career chart. Furthermore, she needed 293 fewer sets played than Catucci to land at that spot.
Ace In The Hole
With her second-set ace versus Loyola Sept. 7,
Taylor Lord became the 11th player at RMU to amass 100 career service aces. She ranks seventh in school history with 0.28 aces per set.
Emma Granger comes into conference play as the RMU career leader with 0.47 per set. Granger has shot up to fifth in the NEC at 0.36 aces per set. Meanwhile, the career-high five aces by Brown at UMBC Sept. 7 made her the sixth different Robert Morris player to record that many in a five-set match. Lord had a career-high five versus SFU in their last meeting, in which Granger recorded six, becoming just the third RMU player to earn six in a single match twice.
You Can't Spell "Consistency" Without "NEC"
In 2017 Robert Morris finished with its 19th straight winning record in Northeast Conference play, extending the longest such streak of any NEC member, past or present. RMU has gone 170-48 (.780) in NEC play over that span:
1999: 9-0 2004: 8-0 2009: 11-5 2014: 12-2
2000: 8-1 2005: 7-1 2010: 13-3 2015: 11-3
2001: 8-1 2006: 5-3 2011: 10-6 2016: 8-6
2002: 9-0 2007: 6-2 2012: 13-3 2017: 8-6
2003: 8-0 2008: 8-0 2013: 8-6
Follow the Colonials: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Snapchat
