BALTIMORE -- The
Robert Morris volleyball team continued its recent reversal of fortunes on the first day of the Charm City Challenge, though not without first continuing its recent flair for excitement.
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 on Friday for their first winning streak of the 2018 season.
Against the Retrievers (2-5), RMU endured a fourth set with ten ties and six lead changes and staved off match point. A kill by senior outside hitter
Taylor Lord tied it at 25, and her subsequent service ace proved to be the turning point. Sophomore middle blocker
Emma Granger followed it up by collecting set point for Robert Morris, which roared out to a 5-0 lead in the fifth, and UMBCÂ never recovered.
The Greyhounds (4-4), who had never defeated the Colonials in nine previous meetings, made them put in more overtime to survive their latest battle. After 7-2 and 5-1 runs at opposite ends of the first set doomed them, Robert Morris persevered to a second-set victory after 15 ties and eight lead changes.
RMU turned a 20-16 deficit into a 22-20 advantage before Loyola took four of the next five points. Collectively, the teams negated set point six times, including five in a row by the Colonials, before outside hitter
Alyson Londot gave them the edge and a block by middle blocker and fellow sophomore
Maria Alfano finally evened the match.
"Last year, we found a way to lose a lot of those five-set matches," said head coach
Dale Starr. "The fact that we're 3-0 in five-set matches, we've done it where we've been ahead, we've done it where we've had to come from behind...the fact that we're finding ways to win these five-game matches is really, really key going forward."
Robert Morris appeared to be in control with a 20-16 lead in the fourth, until its offense stalled after a Loyola timeout. The Colonials then fell behind 8-5 as the teams switched sides in the fifth, but Londot and Lord bookended a 4-0 run.
Londot hit .354 for the entire day and co-led her team with 13 kills against UMBC before topping the Colonials with 16 versus Loyola. She has amassed double-digit kills in three straight matches and four of her last five.
"She's starting to figure it out," Starr said. "She's starting to figure out that you don't have to swing really hard all the time, and sometimes just putting the ball on the other side of the net and allowing your team to make a play is the best play you can make. And I think, these last two weeks, she's gotten really good at moving on to the next play and understanding that volleyball is a zero-sum game."
Down 13-11, Lord made it a one-point game, then rookie setter
Megan Cannon, off the bench, forced a pair of attack errors for match point, which RMU immediately cashed in on a block assist by Granger and senior middle blocker
Liz Campbell to earn the right to exhale.
"We had three different defenses on that last point for what they were going to run," Starr said. "That's a lot to put on a young team, as far as just mentally being prepared. That's what was most pleasing to me, that they were able to stay within themselves and make those adjustments that we had struggled with earlier in the season."
"We've talked a lot in practice about energy and having our minds right, and being involved in every point," said Lord. "I think there were definitely some times when we weren't heads-up. We weren't 'all in.' But overall, I think our effort and our energy this week has been better than when the season started."
One of three active Colonials (Campbell,
Allie Yurkovich) to have previously faced both teams, Lord picked up her third double-double of the year versus Loyola with 15 kills and 14 digs, hitting a healthy .267, after narrowly missing one with nine kills and 14 digs against UMBC.
Her second-set ace in the second match made her the 11th player in program history to register 100 career service aces. Furthermore, the West Virginia native proved herself as a teammate by continuing to contribute on offense after agreeing to a positional shift designed to bolster the rest of the Robert Morris attack.
"We had a conversation between matches, and she was very open to starting on the back row," Starr said. "Taylor did what she does as a senior. She stepped up to the plate, she found ways to put the ball away, she played great defense and she found ways to lead her team. I'm pleased that she's accepted that role, embraced it and, now, is kind of running with it."
"Especially in my position group, we want whoever's hot to be out there," Lord said. "There's no hard feelings. I love when Mirna (Sarjanovic) or someone else pulls me aside and says something like, 'Hey, they're not moving very well in this direction, maybe put the ball there.' And there were multiple times today when I could turn to them and say, 'That was all you.'
"No matter who's out there, I think we're all very supportive and want the best result for the team overall."
Meanwhile, on what began as a historic day for UMBC in its new venue, there were several other edits to the RMU record book. Alfano tied her career high with seven total blocks against the Greyhounds, and sophomore setter
Whitney Brown demolished her personal best with 58 assists in that victory.
Brown, with that, 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.
Earlier, the Avonworth High School product set another career high with five service aces against the Retrievers. Brown is the sixth different Robert Morris player to record that many in a five-set match, and it was the second-most in a five-setter in program history.
Yurkovich finished Friday with a combined 34 digs, surpassing both Lindsey Monger '13 and Megan Bell '06 to land at No. 7 on the RMU all-time chart. The former Thomas Jefferson standout now has 1,305 career digs.
Fellow libero and first-year defensive specialist
Nikolette Zanolli reached a new season-high with 30 digs versus Loyola.
Robert Morris (3-6) concludes its portion of the Charm City Challenge with an 11:00 a.m. EDT first serve against James Madison on Saturday.
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