MATCHES 18-19_­

RMU (4-13, 1-5 #HLVB) at IUPUI (6-10, 0-5 #HLVB)
Friday, October 6 • 6:00 p.m.
The Jungle • Indianapolis, Ind.
 
RMU (4-13, 1-5 #HLVB) at Purdue Fort Wayne (6-11, 1-4 #HLVB)
Saturday, October 7 • 4:00 p.m.
Gates Sports Center • Fort Wayne, Ind.
 
Can You Dig It?
-The RMU volleyball team travels to Indianapolis for a pair of conference road matches, taking on IUPUI on Friday, Oct. 6 before battling Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday, Oct. 7.

- The Colonials wrapped up its three-game homestand last week, dropping a pair of matches to Milwaukee (3-1) and to Green Bay (3-1).

- Against the Panthers, RMU was led by freshman Natalie Stepnaovich, who posted her seventh dig/kill double-double of the season. She finished with a team-high 12 kills while collecting 11 digs, two blocks and an ace. Sophomore Hillarie Adams posted nine kills and three digs while graduate student Rosina Esposito carded seven successful swings, four digs, two blocks, and a service ace.

- Senior Emma Brown ended the evening with seven kills and a team-best .368 hitting percentage while totaling three blocks. Junior Ashleigh Wallin registered her third double-double of the season with 17 assists and 10 digs while Kaitlyn Brown recorded 12 assists and six digs. Allena Carmody ended with a team-high 15 digs and Tatum Otolski collected three blocks.

- In its final home match of the weekend against the Phoenix, a trio of Colonials finished with double-digit kills. For the third consecutive match, Stepanovich posted a kill/dig double-double, finishing with 16 successful swings and 11 digs. She paces the squad with eight double-doubles this season while carding double figure kills in 12 matches.

- Adams recorded 11 kills and two digs while recording five kills and a .444 hitting percentage in the second set alone. She has finished with double-digit kills in four of the last seven matches. Esposito ended the evening with her first double-double of the season, tallying 11 kills and 10 digs. Esposito registered five kills alone in the opening stanza to pace RMU.

- Emma Brown posted nine kills and a season-best .471 attacking percentage while Azra Eric finished with five kills, six digs, and block. Wallin recorded 26 assists, nine digs, and a service ace while Katie Cook rallied with a season-high 21 assists.

- Graduate student Allena Carmody finished with a team-best 23 digs, two assists, and two aces while Jaidan Hockman tallied a career-high 10 digs against Green Bay.

- RMU returns back to Moon Township on Friday, Oct. 13, when they host Youngstown State for a league match at the UPMC Events Center.

IUPUI/PURDUE FORT WAYNE LINKS
Live Stats at IUPUI
Video at IUPUI
Live Stats at Purdue Fort Wayne
Video at Purdue Fort Wayne
RMU Athletics Gameday App

The All-Time Series (IUPUI) – It'll be the eighth all-time meeting when the Colonials and Jaguars meet on Friday evening. RMU holds a 4-3 advantage in the series as the two squads split the season series last year. In the first meeting at the UPMC Events Center, Abby Ryan registered 14 kills and nine digs while Kaitlyn Brown handed out a career-high 38 assists and recorded her third consecutive double-double and fifth of the year. She matched a personal best with 11 digs and also finished with a career-high five kills while recording a .308 hitting percentage. In Indianapolis, the Colonials secured a 3-2 match victory as there were many players that put up good statistics, both offensively and defensively.

Brown provided 47 assists and 10 digs while Ryan tied her career-high in kills with 20. She did this twice before against UMES (8/27/21), and at Youngstown St. (10/7/22). Ryan also served three aces and posted eight digs. Emma Brown was second on the team in kills with 10. Ally Christman scored six kills and nine digs. Allena Carmody is now the second student-athlete for the Colonials to join the RMU 1,000-Dig Club in as many years. After her 20-dig performance, she has 1,019 career digs. Carmody is the 14th RMU student-athlete in program history to achieve this milestone.

The All-Time Series (Purdue Fort Wayne) – Saturday afternoon will mark the 10^th time in the series that RMU and Purdue Fort Wayne will square off against each other. The two teams split the season series in 2022 as the Mastodons hold an 8-1 mark overall. In Moon Township, the Colonials posted a 3-2 victory as Ryan led a balanced offense, posting 16 kills and finishing a dig shy of a double-double. The Colonials also improved to 2-0 that season when both Kaitlyn Brown and Ashleigh Wallin eclipsed 20 assists. Wallin notched 25, while Brown contributed 21.

In Fort Wayne, Ryan posted a career-high 21 kills and also showed a double-double on the stat sheet as she got 11 digs to complement her career-high in kills. On four different occasions she's posted 20 or more kills in her RMU tenure. Ally Christman posted 10 kills, five digs and four service aces. The sophomore was one shy of her career high in service aces where she earned five vs. Milwaukee (10/21/22). Allena Carmody and Kaitlyn Brown led the team in digs with 12 each. Brown consistently set her teammates up all night as she paced 42 assists in one match.

Second Set Assassins – Through the first 17 matches this season, the second frame has been generous to the Colonials. RMU has won seven second sets this season, including three of the last five matches. In those seven sets, the Colonials are averaging over four-point victories, securing a 25-14 victory over Niagara at the Blue Hen Invitational as well as a 25-18 win over Green Bay last Saturday. RMU currently ranks fifth in the league with 12.56 kills per set while ranking sixth in points per set at 15.29.

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