Volleyball | 10/8/2019 9:49:00 AM
Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University volleyball team starts a three-match home stand on Wednesday, Oct. 9 at 7:00 p.m. when it hosts in-state rival Saint Francis U in Northeast Conference (NEC) action.
MATCH #17
Saint Francis U Red Flash (1-14, 1-2 NEC) @ Robert Morris Colonials (13-3, 3-0 NEC)
Wednesday, October 9, 2019 // 7:00 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.
> 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.
> The Colonials moved to 3-0 in the NEC for the fourth time in six seasons over the weekend. This is the 17th overall time that RMU has begun the league slate with three straight wins, a group that 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 three NEC contests are: 1994 (3-0), 2000 (6-0), 2001 (5-0), 2009 (3-0), 2010 (4-0), 2011 (4-0), 2012 (5-0), 2014 (6-0), 2015 (3-0), and 2017 (3-0).
> RMU was one of the eight remaining undefeated teams in NCAA Division I volleyball before suffering its first defeat. The Colonials' 13 wins are tied for the 16th most nationally and are four 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 last home match against Merrimack, it held the opponents 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.
> Both Whitney Brown and Emma Granger have moved into the top 10 of the RMU career record books this season. Brown sits ninth in assists with 1,482, 155 shy of the next spot on the leaderboard. Granger owns the fifth spot in service aces (146) and block assists (260), and is tied for seventh in total blocks (300).
> 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 91-44 (.674) conference record and 144-158 (.477) 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 10 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 (2.95)
> 1st in NEC, 20th in NCAA in opponent hitting percentage (.153)
> 1st in NEC, 23rd in NCAA in win-loss percentage (.813)
> 1st in NEC, 33rd in NCAA in digs per set (16.56)
> 1st in NEC, 34th in NCAA in service aces per set (1.67)
> 1st in NEC in hitting percentage (.232)
> 1st in NEC in assists per set (11.60)
> 1st in NEC in kills per set (12.89)
Individual Rankings
Emma Granger:
> 1st in NEC, 6th in NCAA in blocks per set (1.53)
> 1st in NEC, 8th in NCAA in service aces per set (0.56)
> 2nd in NEC in hitting percentage (.353)
> 4th in NEC in kills per set (2.91)
Nikolette Zanolli:
> 1st in NEC, 31st in NCAA in digs per set (4.98)
Whitney Brown:
> 1st in NEC in assists per set (9.57)
Maria Alfano:
> 2nd in NEC, 45th in NCAA in blocks per set (1.26)
> 3rd in NEC in hitting percentage (.346)
> 9th in NEC in kills per set (2.68)
Emily Devlin:
> 3rd in NEC in blocks per set (0.90)
Allena Carmody:
> 4th in NEC in service aces per set (0.35)
Lauren Kolenik:
> 8th in NEC in kills per set (2.72)
Last Time Out
Robert Morris faced a couple of series droughts this past weekend at Bryant and Sacred Heart, but snapped those losing streaks with a pair of road victories.
The Colonials had lost six straight in the series against the Bulldogs, but righted the ship with a three-set triumph (25-16, 25-17, 25-22). RMU owned edges in service aces (9-3) and total team blocks (9.0-2.0), offsetting a 37-27 disadvantage in kills. Granger led the way by contributing in multiple phases, recording seven kills, seven block assists, and a pair of service aces.
After being swept by the Pioneers last season, the Colonials knocked off the NEC preseason favorite in their first 2019 encounter in four sets (25-18, 25-22, 26-28, 25-23). RMU held SHU to a .199 hitting percentage, marking the 11th time this season it has accomplished that. Lauren Kolenik (15k, 16d) and Whitney Brown (44a, 13d) posted double-doubles in the win, while Maria Alfano led the team with 17.5 points on 14 kills and six blocks (one solo).
History Lesson
Robert Morris has dominated the all-time series with Saint Francis U, owning a 61-10 lead against its in-state rival. The teams split the season series last year with each winning at home, but prior to that the Colonials had won 19 straight with the last loss coming in Moon Township for the 2008 NEC Tournament.
RMU won the most recent meeting against the Red Flash on Nov. 2, 2018 in straight sets (25-21, 25-22, 25-20). Emma Granger tallied 12 kills on a .409 hitting percentage with six service aces – including four straight in the opening frame – and six block assists, while her partner in the middle, Maria Alfano, hit .600 with seven kills.
Know Your Opponent
Saint Francis U has struggled in 2019, going winless over 12 non-conference matches before nabbing its first win against Merrimack (3-1). The Red Flash dropped a pair of three-set matches at Sacred Heart and Bryant over the weekend, dropping it to 1-14 overall and 1-2 in the NEC.
Sophomore outside hitter Madi Tyus ranks second in the league in kills (3.66), while her classmate Nicole Adams comes in at 10th (2.67). Second-year setter Nicole Sweeney is third on the circuit in assists (8.00), and redshirt freshman outside hitter Alexa Mamone slots fifth in service aces (0.34).
SFU ranks in the bottom half of the NEC in every statistical category, with its ranking of sixth in service aces (1.20) being the highest mark. The Red Flash slot seventh in hitting percentage (.127) and kills (9.11), and eighth in opponent hitting percentage (.288), assists (8.47), blocks (1.13), and digs (11.04).
Coming Up
Robert Morris continues its three-match home stand this weekend against Fairleigh Dickinson and Long Island. The Colonials host the Knights on Friday, Oct. 11 at 7:00 p.m. and then welcome the Sharks to the UPMC Events center at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12. RMU's match against FDU is Dating & Domestic Violence Awareness Nights, with donations going to the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh.
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