Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University volleyball program, under the direction of 11th-year head coach Dale Starr, has announced a 16-match schedule featuring all Horizon League contests, as the league prepares for a spring competitive season following the cancellation of its traditional fall campaign due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
RMU will face eight of the 10 other Horizon League institutions that compete in volleyball twice, with all but the final week of the season featuring a Monday-Tuesday two-match split. Eight of the Colonials' matches will be played at the UPMC Events Center, and all will be without fans in attendance.
LINK: 2021 Volleyball Spring Schedule
The 2021 spring opener is less than a week away when RMU hosts Oakland for a pair of matches on Jan. 25-26. The Colonials will then play four straight matches on the road, beginning with two at UIC on Feb. 1-2, and a couple at Purdue Fort Wayne on Feb. 15-16. RMU will have a bye week in between the meetings with the Flames and Mastodons.
The Colonials return home on Feb. 22-23 when they host reigning Horizon League regular-season champion Wright State. RMU then embarks on another four-game road swing, though this one not being as far as it plays Cleveland State on March 1-2 and Youngstown State on March 8-9. The regular season concludes at the UPMC Events Center when the Colonials play IUPUI on March 15-16, and defending Horizon League Tournament champion Northern Kentucky on Monday, March 22 as part of a one-day doubleheader.
RMU is entering its inaugural Horizon League trek with one of its most talented teams, as 12 of 13 student-athletes return from last season's 25-win campaign. The Colonials' 25 victories were the third most in program history, and a program-record 15 Northeast Conference (NEC) wins captured the team's first regular-season title in 11 years. RMU brings back three All-NEC selections in Maria Alfano, Whitney Brown, and Emma Granger, with Granger unanimously named NEC Player of the Year and became the first player in program history to earn All-Region and All-American recognition.
Starr, the 2019 NEC Coach of the Year and program all-time wins leader at 156, has a roster of 15 to work with in the spring slate following the graduation of Lauren Kolenik in the winter. The Colonials feature seven seniors (Maria Alfano, Whitney Brown, Skylar Clements, Emma Granger, Alyson Londot, Mirna Sarjanovic, Erika Wilt), four juniors (Megan Cannon, Emily Devlin, Alyssa Hudak, Nikolette Zanolli), one sophomore (Allena Carmody), and three freshmen (Emma Brown, Annie Monaco, Abby Ryan).
None of the Colonials' new Horizon League foes will be entirely new, as they have faced all at least one time since 2009 – including Green Bay and Milwaukee, who aren't on their regular-season schedule. RMU's most common opponent is Youngstown State, who it has played 38 times overall and at least once in each of the previous nine seasons.
Fans can stream action all season long through the official RMU Athletics Gameday App. To download the app, use this link and stay up-to-date with RMU Athletics.
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