Volleyball | 9/6/2018 11:09:00 PM

MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The Robert Morris volleyball team continues non-conference play in the third of its four preseason tournaments, the Charm City Challenge, beginning with a Friday morning match against the host Retrievers of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The Colonials have the honor of being the first volleyball opponent to visit the new UMBC Event Center in Baltimore, where first serve is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. EDT. The match can be seen live on AmericaEast.TV.

Robert Morris continues tournament play with a 5:00 p.m. EDT match versus the Greyhounds of nearby Loyola University Maryland Friday and concludes with an 11:00 a.m. EDT match versus the Dukes of James Madison University on Saturday. Live stats for both matches are available at bit.ly/rmuvolleyball.

Robert Morris (1-6) at the Charm City Challenge
Fri., Sept. 7 at UMBC (10:00 a.m.) - LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS
Fri., Sept. 7 vs. Loyola (Md.) (5:00 p.m.) - LIVE STATS
Sat., Sept. 8 vs. James Madison (11:00 a.m.) - LIVE STATS

COMPLETE NOTES PACKAGE: Robert Morris at the Charm City Challenge (Sept. 7-8, 2018) (PDF)

RMU owns an 8-6 all-time record over UMBC, including five wins from when the schools were rivals in the Northeast Conference 1998-2002. This is their third meeting in four years, and their most recent one resulted in another Colonials victory, a five-set thriller (26-24, 25-14, 14-25, 22-25, 17-15) at RAC Arena in the Maddie Bingaman Memorial Tournament Sept. 10, 2016.

They have won all nine of their matches with Loyola (Maryland) all-time, including their four-set victory Aug. 29, 2015 in the Robert Morris Invitational, their most recent meeting. Robert Morris, on the other hand, is looking for its first win in program history over JMU, which won the last meeting in three at the Bingaman Tournament on Sept. 8, 2012.

Last Time Out
The Colonials engineered a come-from-behind, 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.



Scouting The Opponents
UMBC (2-4) is coming off a four-set loss to Tulsa at the Bruiser Showcase in Nashville, Tennessee last Friday. Senior setter Krytsia Negrón had a match-best 38 assists to go with 18 digs, her third straight double-double, as well as four blocks. Negrón is averaging 9.05 helpers and 2.67 digs per set and shares the team lead in service aces, with five. The Retrievers are looking for their first win since surprising tournament host Belmont in five sets Aug. 31.

Loyola (4-3) stayed home in Baltimore Wednesday for a dominant three-set victory over Coppin State. The Greyhounds finished with a staggering .456 attack average and held the Eagles to a .012 clip. On Monday, libero Katie Forsythe got her second Patriot League Rookie of the Week award in a row after averaging 6.18 digs per set at the Maverick Classic in Arlington, Texas and getting an all-tournament team selection. She enters Friday ranked fourth in all of Division I with 6.27 per set.

James Madison (5-2) enjoyed a 2-1 weekend at the Creeds & Crests Classic in San Marcos, Texas, capped by a four-set win over Abilene Christian last Saturday. The Dukes got a triple-double from junior setter Sarah Martin (45 assists, 13 kills and 12 digs), making her the first Colonial Athletic Association player to achieve the feat this season. She is averaging 10.52 apples, 1.36 kills and 1.88 digs per set.



MUSKET SHOTS

Retrieving Results...
RMU got double-doubles from both Arden Fisher and Taylor Lord in its Sept. 2016 victory over UMBC. Lord finished with 11 kills and 25 digs, one shy of her career best, and she recorded two of the team's three service aces that day. She needs two more aces to become just the 11th player in program history to amass 100 for her career. Liz Campbell and Allie Yurkovich, the only other active Colonials to have faced the Retrievers, have combined for 85 assists and 42 digs, respectively, in three previous outings. 

Better The Devlin You Know
Emily Devlin won a district championship at Seneca Valley with current teammate Maria Alfano, and both made the all-section team as high school seniors. Devlin hit .400 for the Hokie Invitational, and her .467 attack average at host Virginia Tech Sept. 1 was a season high, as were her ten kills and five total blocks versus Kent State Tuesday. She ranks ninth in the NEC with her .241 hitting percentage.

Ave Maria
Alfano hit .308 for the Hokie Invitational, recording 25 total kills and eight total blocks to earn an all-tournament team selection. Her 11 kills versus Campbell Aug. 31 marked her 12th career match with double-digit kills, and four of her five digs on the weekend also came on Aug. 31, against William & Mary, which equalled her career high. She ranks fifth in the NEC with her .278 hitting percentage.



Righteous In-Dig-Nation
Allie Yurkovich enters the weekend in a virtual fifth-place tie with Taylor Lord for fifth on the Robert Morris career chart with an average of 3.42 digs per set. With 1,271 digs all-time, Yurkovich needs 19 more to catch Lindsey Monger '13 for eighth-most in RMU history. The Colonials, as a team, rank third in the NEC with 15.15 digs per set.

Granger Things
Emma Granger led the Colonials and ranked ninth in the Northeast Conference with 2.92 kills per set as the NEC's 2017 Rookie of the Year and fourth in RMU history. Only four players in team history have finished their careers averaging 3.00 kills per set or better, and Granger is currently sixth on the all-time chart with 2.72 per frame. She ranks first all-time in career aces per set (0.48) and seventh in blocks per set (0.96) entering Friday. Since joining the program, Granger has averaged 2.81 kills, 0.43 aces and 0.88 blocks per set in preseason tournaments.

A Grey Area
Campbell, Lord and Yurkovich are also the only active Colonials to have previously faced Loyola. In RMU's Aug. 2015 triumph over the Greyhounds, Campbell made a match-high 44 assists and a career-high six total blocks, adding one of three Robert Morris aces. Yurkovich added a pair of helpers, and she and Lord each registered 12 digs. Campbell, meanwhile, ranks ninth in program history with her career 4.38 assists-per-set average and seventh in serve percentage (.951) entering Friday.

Don't Hassle Me, I'm Local
The offseason transfer of Serra Catholic product Lauren Kolenik from Eastern Kentucky University gives the Colonials five WPIAL (Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League) alumnae on their 2018 roster. Although Kolenik is taking a medical redshirt for the 2018 season, the five former WPIAL players are the most on any of Dale Starr's RMU teams.

Londot Calling
Alyson Londot ranks ninth in the NEC with her 2.52 kills-per-set average entering Friday. With her ten digs and season-high 15 kills versus Kent State Tuesday, Londot now has two double-doubles in her last three matches after going 13 straight without one. The first six double-doubles of her RMU career came in preseason tournaments.



Native Whit
Pittsburgh-born Whitney Brown ranks fourth in the NEC with 6.80 assists per set. Her ten digs versus Kent State Tuesday matched her season high, and her 32 assists, which led all competitors, gave her her second double-double of the season. Brown leads all active Colonials and ranks seventh in program history with a career average of 4.60 assists per set entering Friday.

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