Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU volleyball team opened its 2022 season Friday at the JMU Invitational in Harrisonburg, Va., falling to Kent State, 3-1, at Sinclair Gymnasium.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Tied, 3-3, in the opening set, the Golden Flashes (2-0) used a 13-5 surge to open up a 16-8 lead en route to a 25-15 victory. Kent State posted just one attack error in the opening set, producing a hitting percentage of .667 thanks to 15 kills in 21 total attempts. Overall on the match, the Golden Flashes hit .383, with 57 kills against 13 errors in 115 total chances.
SET TWO
Fifth-year
Alyssa Hudak opened the second set with a kill off a feed from sophomore
Ashleigh Wallin, a carbon copy of how the match started, but Kent State scored the next nine points to open a 9-1 advantage. The Colonials steadied, closing to within 22-20 thanks a 10-3 run of their own. Junior
Annie Monaco started the surge with a kill and posted a pair while also notching a service ace, while the Colonials also received kills from Hudak, sophomores
Ally Christman and
Abby Powers and freshman
Hillarie Adams. The Golden Flashes were able to grab a 2-0 lead in the match by scoring the final three points of the set.
BOUNCING BACK
RMU fell behind, 3-1, early in the third but hit .256 in the set to trim its deficit in the match to 2-1. The quartert of Monaco (5), Adams (3), Christman (2) and rookie
Kaitlyn Brown (2) combined for 12 kills against just one error in 28 attempts, a hitting percentage of .393. Christman's kill gave the Colonials a 22-18 edge, Brown added another to push RMU's lead to 24-20 and Adams sealed the set triumph, 25-22, on a feed from Brown.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Savannah Matthews notched a double-double to pace the Golden Flashes, including 16 kills and a match-high 19 digs. She recorded five kills in the third set, including consecutive points that gave Kent State an 11-5 lead en route to the victory. RMU received a balanced attack offensively, with Monaco posting a team-high eight kills, while Hudak and Adams each posted seven. In her NCAA Division I debut, Adams was efficient, posting a .375 attack percentage with just one error in 16 chances. Brown, meanwhile, posted 13 assists and five digs in her RMU debut, while Powers posted six kills in 12 chances without an error for a .500 hitting percentage.
UP NEXT
RMU returns to action Saturday in the JMU Invitational with a pair of matches. The Colonials open against the host Dukes at 10:00 a.m. before concluding the invite against UAlbany at 4:00 p.m. at Sinclair Gymnasium.
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