MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Down two sets to another non-conference opponent and still in search of its first win, the Robert Morris volleyball team staged a comeback Tuesday night that its underclassmen would not allow to be derailed.

The Colonials engineered a five-set victory (14-25, 16-25, 25-22, 25-16, 15-12) over Kent State at the North Athletic Complex in their 2018 home opener, building steam on offense behind Alyson Londot. The sophomore outside hitter, attacking at a .281 clip, registered ten digs and led RMU with 15 kills for her second double-double in three matches, adding three service aces.

Stoking the fire of the Robert Morris attack was rookie right side hitter Emily Devlin, who made a season-high ten kills and five total blocks and finished with a .269 attack average. Fellow newcomer Alyssa Hudak quietly hit .304 from her outside spot, ringing up nine kills, and first-year libero Nikolette Zanolli recorded 11 digs to go with three assists and a pair of aces.

"I think it takes time to get to where they feel like they can play at this level. The game is really, really fast for them," said head coach Dale Starr. "I liken it to being on a train that's flying down the tracks, and everything's just whizzing by, and you can't stop it. So, if you focus on one thing, ten more things hit you. They're on the train right now, and we're trying to get them to slow down and take a look at the scenery, instead of focusing on the one thing that's going by."

Defensively, RMU flipped a switch after the second set, holding the Golden Flashes (5-3) to an .033 hitting percentage the rest of the way. Kent State had been out-hitting the Colonials, .400 to .138, through two.

After a sluggish start, the Colonials forced the ninth tie of the second on back-to-back kills by Devlin, but Kent State zipped past them, closing it out with an 11-2 run that prompted Starr to shuffle his lineup.

"My thought process was, we're going to make this change, and if we're going to lose this match, then we're going to see what we've got with our younger kids. And they came out and played," he said. "Now I have some confidence, looking down the bench, if that situation comes up again, they can come in and handle themselves, and make plays."

"In the first and second set, we were real down. It wasn't going our way. We just made a couple changes, and usually, with changes, we don't know how it's going to go, but we really pulled together as a team," said Devlin. "Everyone just kind of clicked and picked each other up."

Devlin and Hudak each struck quickly to help Robert Morris take the first four points of the third set, then Londot helped RMU open up leads of 9-2, 14-7 and 19-10 that it would not surrender.

"I think, after the first two sets today, we realized we needed to turn it on," said Londot. "Dale got on us...so I think that helped a lot. It made us think we could win this game, and everyone just got out there and gave it their all."

The Golden Flashes started chopping wood, but just after a couple aces from Sam Jones cut it to 24-22 and forced the Colonials to burn a timeout, a Jones service error extended the match.

Londot picked up their first point of the fourth set, then started doing damage from the service rotation with two early aces that produced a 5-2 edge for RMU. A Zanolli ace and subsequent Kent State attack error forced a timeout by the visitors, and three straight kills by Hudak brought it to an 11-4 cushion.

"We just had to do the same things better," Devlin said. "We were slow on defense, the block wasn't there, and we weren't putting the ball away much. I think, once the defense started to pick up, other things started to pick up along with it."

Sophomore middle blocker Emma Granger collected her fifth ace of the season before the Colonials continued feeding the hot hand of Londot, forcing the second Kent State timeout at 15-6. Robert Morris tied the match on another service error by the Golden Flashes after block assists by Granger and Londot brought the home team to set point.

Hudak assisted on a thrilling block by Skylar Clements after a long rally early in the fifth. Clements, who was noticeable off the Colonials bench (three kills, three total blocks), gave Robert Morris a 12-8 lead and set up Devlin for a five-point advantage.

Granger put her squad on the left side of the ledger, at last, with a thunderous attack to her left. She ended up with five kills and two aces and led RMU with five total blocks.

"We worked together, as a team, very well tonight. We all had trust in each other, which, I think had lacked in the last few weeks," Londot said. "It was a great thing to have today."

Meanwhile, Taylor Lord, playing for the first time since a leg injury forced her out of the Hokie Invitational, made a match- and season-high 15 digs. Whitney Brown equaled Lord with her second double-double of the year, finishing with 32 assists and tying her season-high of ten digs.

Robert Morris (1-6) will next participate in the Charm City Challenge Sept. 7-8, kicking off the tournament at former Northeast Conference rival UMBC. First serve against the Retrievers is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. EDT Friday at the UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, followed by a 5:00 p.m. EDT match versus Loyola (Maryland).

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