Moon Township, Pa. – The RMU volleyball team stretched its winning streak to five Saturday and in the process completed the Morehead State Comfort Inn-vitational with a perfect 3-0 record thanks to a 3-1 victory over Quinnipiac at Johnson Arena. The Colonials improved to 6-3 (.667) overall during the 2022 season with the triumph.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
For the first time during the 2022 season, RMU earned a victory in the first set, posting a 25-18 win over the Bobcats. The Colonials jumped out to a 5-0 lead, receiving two kills from outside hitter
Annie Monaco and another from fifth-year
Alyssa Hudak. Quinnipiac came back to grab a 10-9 advantage on a pair of attack errors by the Colonials, but a 15-4 run propelled RMU to a 1-0 advantage in the match. Monaco came out of the gates firing, posting eight of RMU's 12 kills in the opening set while also notching five digs, a solo block and a block assist.
EVEN FLOW
The Bobcats tied the match, 1-1, by taking the second set, 25-16, thanks to a .318 attack percentage, and also opened up a 5-1 lead in the third set. Quinnipiac owned a 15-13 lead in the third before the Colonials closed the set on a 12-5 run to grab a 2-1 lead in the match. Middle blocker
Emma Brown provided a kill to give RMU an 18-16 cushion, while junior outside hitter
Abby Ryan sealed the victory with a pair of spikes on feeds from sophomore setter
Ashleigh Wallin.
FOUR CHORD
Ryan was in the middle of RMU's set victory that secured a win in the match. Her kill gave the Colonials an 18-12 lead in the fourth, and she provided three of the final four points of the set, including the final point on a feed from junior libero
Allena Carmody. Monaco paced RMU with another double thanks to 15 kills and 13 digs, but Ryan contributed 12 of her 14 kills in the final two sets while racking up a .429 attack percentage. She also finished with six digs, two helpers and a block assist.
QUOTABLE
"Couldn't be prouder of the effort the team gave this weekend," RMU head coach
Danny Doherty said. "I think that's what we're really starting to become is a team. We had a number of different players step up for us at different times throughout each of our three wins, and that really shows our unselfishness. It's something to build on as we look to finish our non-conference season strong in preparing for the Horizon League."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
RMU held Quinnipiac to a hitting percentage of .128 in earning its fifth consecutive win, as the Bobcats posted 29 errors in 149 total attempts despite finishing with more team kills (48) than the Colonials (47). During its five-game winning streak, opponents are hitting just .146 against RMU, while Monaco (64), junior
Ally Christman (55.5) and Ryan (54.5) have paced the Colonials in scoring.
UP NEXT
RMU heads to North Carolina for its final tournament of the non-conference slate, taking part in the Fairfield Inn and Suites Dunn Campbell Invitational. The Colonials will open the invite Friday, Sept. 16, in Buies Creek, N.C., with an 11:00 a.m. match against North Carolina Central.
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