Kent, Ohio – A bright start of the season continued for the Robert Morris University volleyball team this evening, as the Colonials swept Idaho State in three sets (25-22, 25-9, 25-22) in their first match of three at the Golden Flashes Classic.
Robert Morris (4-0, 0-0 NEC) flexed its defensive chops in the victory, combining for 13.0 total team blocks while holding Idaho State (3-2, 0-0 Big Sky) to a .046 hitting percentage. The Colonials collected 75 digs as a unit, highlighted by a 31-dig performance by Nikolette Zanolli, which tied the program three-set record.
At the net, Emma Granger tallied nine blocks (one solo) to lead the charge. Whitney Brown and Emily Devlin provided five block assists each, while the reigning Molten/NEC Defensive Player of the Week, Maria Alfano, added four block assists.
Offensively, Alfano hit .417 with a team-best 10 kills on the evening. Mirna Sarjanovic collected nine, and Granger and Devlin chipped in with seven apiece. Brown posted her third consecutive double-double as the primary setter, tallying 35 assists and 14 digs.
RMU never trailed in the match, only drawing even twice in the first set, and once each in the second and third frames.
Tied 9-9 in the opening frame, back-to-back kills by Sarjanovic and a point from Granger helped shift the momentum in favor of the Colonials. The gap never went higher than three points until 23-19, when Granger and Sarjanovic rejected a Reagan Steiner offering to force a Bengals timeout. ISU would rally with three of the next four points to get RMU to call a timeout, but Brown set up Erika Wilt after the break for the winning point.
In the middle stanza, a 3-3 score provided the lone deadlock. The Colonials would score 11 of the next 14 points to force an ISU timeout, then tallied six of the next seven points to drive another break. RMU hit .367 over the frame, connecting on 12 of 30 swings with just a single error.
The final reset between the Colonials and Bengals came at 17-17 in the third set. Alfano and Devlin teamed up for a block, and then Devlin connected on a swing to make ISU burn a timeout. That didn't seem to help matters, as Wilt served up an ace, Alfano and Devlin stopped another attack, and Alfano found the floor to swing the pendulum fully in RMU's favor.
Zanolli's 31 digs matched Alaina Gibson's three-set standard, which was set against IPFW on Sept. 1, 2006.
Granger nearly joined the sophomore libero at the top of the record books, as her nine blocks were one off Hannah Veith's three-set mark of 10, established on Sept. 17, 2010 against Eastern Illinois.
The Colonials' 4-0 start is the third of its kind, previously achieved by the 1987 and 2008 sides. The 2008 team – which captured the Northeast Conference (NEC) regular-season title – would fall in its next match, but rebound to finish 19-10 overall with a perfect 8-0 mark in league play. RMU's 1987 team would win its first five matches before suffering a defeat.
Robert Morris has a chance to set a new standard for best start in program history with two matches at the Golden Flashes Classic. The Colonials play Valparaiso at 1:00 p.m. to open the day, then finish up at 6:00 p.m. against the host Kent State.
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