Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU volleyball team concluded play in the 2021 RMU / Chick-Fil-A Robinson Labor Day Classic Saturday with a thrilling five-set victory over crosstown rival Duquesne at the UPMC Events Center. The Colonials improved to 4-2 (.667) overall on the 2021 campaign in securing their first home triumph of the year.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Colonials fell behind, 2-1, after three sets and were trailing, 7-5, in set four before using a 7-1 rally to grab a 12-8 advantage. Sophomore
Emma Brown started the surge with a kill on a feed from senior
Megan Cannon, and RMU also got kills from graduate students
Alyson Londot and
Emma Granger and senior
Alyssa Hudak. As a team, the Colonials produced an attack percentage of .342 in the fourth set, with Granger finishing with a team-high five kills in nine total attempts (.556) to help RMU send the match to a deciding fifth set.
BACK AND FORTH
The fifth set proved to be a barnburner, with Hudak giving the Colonials an early 4-2 advantage on a kill thanks to an assist from setter
Ashleigh Wallin. The Dukes (3-3) stormed back to grab a 6-4 lead with a four-point rally, forcing RMU to call a timeout. Duquesne looked to stretch its lead to 8-4, but the Colonials used a challenge to their success, reversing a call and awarding Hudak another kill to make it 7-5 in the deciding set in favor of the Dukes. The challenge seemed to energize the Colonials, who scored the next four points of the set to grab a 9-7 cushion. Londot gave RMU the lead for good, 12-11, and RMU sealed the triumph with a service ace from Wallin.
QUOTABLE
"Duquesne is a really, really solid team," Starr said. "They've already beat some Horizon League opponents this year. I think it was our energy and our ability to make a mistake but move on to the next point that was the key for us this afternoon. Yesterday we were dwelling on mistakes, and it led to big runs of points. Today we didn't give up those big runs of points."
BALANCED ATTACK
A trio of Colonials reached double digits in kills in the win, with Granger pacing RMU with 16. Sophomore
Abby Ryan added 15 and finished a dig shy of a double-double, while Londot notched 12 kills. RMU finished with a .269 attack percentage in the victory, posting 64 kills against just 17 errors in 175 total attempts. Brown contributed seven kills and a .462 hitting percentage, while senior
Emily Devlin recorded five big kills against no errors for a .455 attack percentage.
HELPER HELPER
The Colonials have two true setters as part of their rotation, and they continued to produce Saturday in the win over Duquesne. Wallin led the Colonials with 29 on the match and owns a team-high 124 (5.17 per set) early in the 2021 campaign, while Cannon finished with 25 dimes against the Dukes and owns 112 assists (4.67 per set) on the year. Wallin also added three service aces and eight digs, while junior
Allena Carmody, seeing her most extended action of 2021, recorded a career-high 24 digs.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Liberty, which finished a perfect 3-0 in the 2021 RMU/Chick-Fil-A Robinson Labor Day Classic after earning a 3-1 victory over Idaho in the first match of the day Saturday at the UPMC Events Center, placed three players on the all-tournament team, including most valuable player Trinity Watts. A look at the squad …
Jr. OH Rajini Fitzmaurice, Liberty
Sr. OH Alyson Londot, RMU
Sr. OH Allison Munday, Idaho
Jr. MH Anita Parrott, Duquesne
So. OH Trinity Watts, Liberty (MVP)
Sr. S Amaya Williams, Liberty
UP NEXT
RMU heads to Fairfax, Va., to take part in the George Mason Invitational Sept. 10-11. The Colonials will take on Coppin State (1:30 p.m.) and Morgan State (4:00 p.m.) in back-to-back matches Friday, Sept. 10, before closing the tournament Saturday, Sept. 11, at 4:00 p.m. against Marist.
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