Volleyball | 10/10/2019 1:55:00 PM
Moon Township, Pa. – The
Robert Morris University volleyball team continues its three-match home stand this weekend with a pair of contests at the UPMC Events Center.
Robert Morris opens the weekend against Fairleigh Dickinson on Friday, Oct. 11, and then welcomes Long Island on Saturday, Oct. 12 for the back half.
The Colonials' match against the Knights is Dating & Domestic Violence Awareness Night, with donations going to the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh.
MATCH #18
Fairleigh Dickinson Knights (1-17, 0-4 NEC) @ Robert Morris Colonials (14-3, 4-0 NEC)
Friday, October 11, 2019 // 7:00 p.m. // Moon Township, Pa. – UPMC Events Center
Live Video: NEC Front Row // Live Stats: RMUColonials.com
Dating & Domestic Violence Awareness Night
MATCH #19
Long Island Sharks (4-11, 3-0 NEC) @ Robert Morris Colonials (14-3, 4-0 NEC)
Saturday, October 12, 2019 // 5:00 p.m. // Moon Township, Pa. – UPMC Events Center
Live Video: NEC Front Row // Live Stats: RMUColonials.com
Know Bobby Mo
> Robert Morris returns a lot of experience with 11 players featuring in last season's side, but does not have a senior on its roster for the first time since 2013. The Colonials have 13 players in all on this year's squad – seven juniors, five sophomores (one redshirt sophomore), and one freshman.
> The Colonials moved to 4-0 in the NEC with their win against Saint Francis U on Wednesday night. This is the 13th time overall and first time since 2014 (6-0) that RMU has begun the league slate with four straight wins. That group includes the NEC-unbeaten 1993 (7-0), 1999 (9-0), 2002 (9-0), 2003 (8-0), 2004 (8-0), and 2008 (8-0) sides. The other years that the Colonials won their first four NEC contests are: 2000 (6-0), 2001 (5-0), 2010 (4-0), 2011 (4-0), and 2012 (5-0).
> Emma Granger fired four service aces in the victory over the Red Flash, reaching the 150-ace mark for her career. That tied her for third all-time at RMU, and puts her 12 shy of breaking the school record of 161, set by 2001 RMU Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Kristie Tuxford (1992-95).
> In addition to her serving prowess, Granger is one of the most dominant blockers in RMU history. The junior is fifth all-time in block assists with 266, five shy of passing Janette Schneider (2003-06) for fourth, and ranks seventh in total blocks (307).
> Whitney Brown is the ninth player in program history to register 1,500 assists in a career, now having 1,509 to her name. She ranks ninth all-time in that category at RMU, 128 helpers away from passing Karen Zimmerly (1991-93) for eighth place on the leaderboard.
> RMU continued its dominance of this season's
Molten/NEC weekly awards on Monday, as
Whitney Brown was named Player of the Week and
Emma Granger brought home Defensive Player of the Week accolades. Brown averaged 9.71 assists, 3.14 digs, and 0.86 blocks per set in a pair of victories, and recorded her fifth double-double of the season at Sacred Heart. Granger registered 1.71 blocks per set in the two wins, and became the eighth player in program history to collect 300 total blocks in a career. The two weekly nods upped their total to eight in 2019, with Granger (4), Brown (2),
Maria Alfano, and
Nikolette Zanolli all earning recognition thus far.
> RMU was one of the eight remaining undefeated teams in NCAA Division I volleyball before suffering its first defeat. The Colonials' 14 wins are tied for the eighth most nationally and are five more than the next NEC team has.
> The Colonials' 10-0 start was the second of its kind in athletic department history. Shattering the previous program record for best start at 5-0 (1987), RMU's 10-0 mark matched the 2000 football team for the top spot in department annals. Only five Colonial volleyball teams (1987, 2001, 2003, 2008, 2019) started a season with a 3-0 record, with three of those squads (2001, 203, 2008) capturing either the NEC regular-season title, tournament title, or both.
> In RMU's match on Sept. 27 against Merrimack, it held the Warriors to single digits in the second and third frames (25-17, 25-6, 25-9), accomplishing that feat for the first time since Nov. 12, 2011 against Quinnipiac. Additionally, it also marked the first time since then – and the 10th time since 2004 – that the Colonials hit over .400 in a match as they converted at a .405 clip on 79 swings.
> Dale Starr is in his 10th season in charge of the Colonials. The 1995 graduate of Northern Colorado has led RMU to seven NEC Tournaments, a pair of league runner-up finishes, the 2015 NEC Tournament title and subsequent NCAA Tournament berth. Starr has and 92-44 (.676) conference record and 145-158 (.479) mark overall at RMU, and seen his players earn 16 All-NEC nods – nine of those being First Team plaudits. For his career, he is nine wins shy of 300 for his career, collecting 290 across three coaching stops (Robert Morris, McNeese, Mississippi University for Women).
> Starr's squads have excelled in the classroom, and last year's was no different. Robert Morris won its second straight NEC Team GPA Award – the program's sixth overall under Starr's watch – with a mark of 3.846, which was the highest for any NEC team since 2014-15, male or female. The Colonials were the recipients of the NEC Institutional Academic Award with a cumulative GPA of 3.432, which was the athletic department's third such accolade and first since 2014.
Team Rankings
> 1st in NEC, 6th in NCAA in blocks per set (2.93)
> 1st in NEC, 20th in NCAA in opponent hitting percentage (.153)
> 1st in NEC, 23rd in NCAA in win-loss percentage (.824)
> 1st in NEC, 33rd in NCAA in digs per set (16.28)
> 1st in NEC, 34th in NCAA in service aces per set (1.72)
> 1st in NEC in hitting percentage (.234)
> 1st in NEC in assists per set (11.62)
> 1st in NEC in kills per set (12.87)
Individual Rankings
Emma Granger:
> 1st in NEC, 6th in NCAA in blocks per set (1.57)
> 1st in NEC, 8th in NCAA in service aces per set (0.60)
> 2nd in NEC in hitting percentage (.361)
> 4th in NEC in kills per set (2.93)
Nikolette Zanolli:
> 1st in NEC, 31st in NCAA in digs per set (4.88)
Whitney Brown:
> 1st in NEC in assists per set (9.54)
Maria Alfano:
> 2nd in NEC, 45th in NCAA in blocks per set (1.22)
> 3rd in NEC in hitting percentage (.337)
Emily Devlin:
> 4th in NEC in blocks per set (0.82)
Allena Carmody:
> 4th in NEC in service aces per set (0.38)
Lauren Kolenik:
> 7th in NEC in kills per set (2.82)
Last Time Out
Robert Morris moved to 62-10 all-time against in-state rival Saint Francis U with a straight-set victory (25-20, 25-12, 25-12) on Wednesday night, its 11th consecutive home triumph in the series.
The Colonials hit .281 as a team and held the Red Flash to a .158 mark, making it the 13th opponent this season and fifth straight to be held below a .200 hitting percentage. RMU also rejected eight SFU attacks on the defensive end, and picked up eight more points off service aces.
Emma Granger led the Colonials with 18.0 points, tallying 10 kills on a .533 hitting percentage, seven blocks (one solo), and four service aces.
Lauren Kolenik hit .407 with a team-high 13 kills, seven of which came in the opening frame.
History Lesson
Robert Morris has dominated the all-time series against Fairleigh Dickinson, owning a 33-7 advantage. That mark includes seven consecutive three-set triumphs and 10 straight wins in the series, with the last loss coming in 2008.
The Colonials took down the Knights in their penultimate match of last season, 25-21, 25-15, 25-15.
Taylor Lord posted a 15-kill, 13-dig double-double, and hit .375 over 32 swings.
Megan Cannon also registered a double-double, tallying 12 assists and 11 digs in the win.
On the flip side, the RMU-Long Island rivalry is one of the most even ones in the NEC. The newly-branded Sharks have the slightest 26-25 advantage over the Colonials, with the teams flipping wins and losses in the last four meetings. Over the last 10 matchups, RMU and LIU are deadlocked at 5-5, with eight of those matches lasting longer than three sets.
Last year in Brooklyn, the Colonials outlasted the NEC regular-season champion Blackbirds in four sets (13-25, 25-23, 27-25, 28-26), handing them their first league loss. Lord (17 kills) and
Alyssa Hudak (11 kills) did most of the heavy lifting offensively, with Cannon (26 assists) and
Whitney Brown (21 assists) quarterbacking the attack.
Emma Granger posted a team-high nine blocks (one solo) as RMU tallied 14.0 rejections as a team.
Know Your Opponent
Fairleigh Dickinson is one of two teams still searching for its first NEC win (Merrimack), dropping all four of its league matches in three sets. The Knights' lone victory of 2019 thus far is a three-set triumph at Manhattan on Oct. 1.
Sophomore libero Jaelyn Young ranks sixth in the NEC in digs (3.61), while classmate Jessica Throckmorton owns the same spot in service aces (0.32). Junior setter McKenna Setterlund slots seventh on the circuit in assists (6.24), and second-year outside hitter Sophia Spiridonakos – a local product from Sewickley – is ninth in blocks (0.68). Junior outside hitter Magdalena Maksimovic is the team leader in kills per set at 2.31.
FDU is one of the better blocking teams in the conference, ranking fourth at 1.69 per set. The Knights also sit in the middle of the pack in digs (14.38, 5th), but fall near the bottom in hitting percentage (.112, 8th) and kills (9.07, 8th).
Long Island is one of two NEC unbeaten teams remaining (Robert Morris), owning a 3-0 mark in the league and a 4-11 record overall. The Sharks have won four of their last five matches, picking up a pair of five-set wins against Central Connecticut and Sacred Heart before knocking off FDU in their most recent contest.
Senior outside hitter Kora Schaberl leads the NEC in kills (3.73) with freshman Karolina Nova ranking seventh in that category (2.75). Senior libero Natalia Rivera and sophomore defensive specialist Anastasia Scott slot fourth (4.34) and ninth (3.17) in digs, respectively, while fourth-year setter Amanda Hubbard is fifth in the league in assists (7.16). Junior outside hitter Jovana Stekovic is a capable third option in attack, averaging 2.17 kills per frame.
A tough non-conference slate pushed LIU to the back half of pretty much every statistical category, with its highest ranking of fifth being in blocks (1.55). The Sharks slot sixth in hitting percentage (.145), assists (10.24), kills (10.87), and digs (13.98), but slot last in service aces (1.00).
Coming Up
After this weekend, Robert Morris is on the road for its next four matches, with three coming consecutively next week. The Colonials play at Merrimack on Thursday, Oct. 17 and follow that up with their first meetings against Central Connecticut (Friday, Oct. 18) and St. Francis Brooklyn (Saturday, Oct. 19).
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