MATCHES 4-5_­

Canisius (2-1) vs RMU (1-2)
Saturday, September 2 • 11:00 a.m.
UPMC Events Center • Moon Township, Pa.
 
Duquesne (2-1) vs RMU (1-2)
Saturday, September 2 • 6:00 p.m.
UPMC Events Center • Moon Township, Pa.
 
Can You Dig It?

• The RMU volleyball team returns to action by co-hosting the Chick-fil-A Robinson Labor Day Classic with Duquesne. The Colonials will welcome Canisius at 11:00 a.m. before hosting the Dukes at 6:00 p.m. at the UPMC Events Center Saturday, Sept. 2.
• The Colonials opened their 2023 season finishing 1-2 at the Blue Hen Invitational in Newark, Del., at the Bob Carpenter Center. RMU dropped sets against Loyola (Md.) (8/26) and Delaware (8/27) before earning their first win with a 3-1 triumph over Niagara (8/27).
• Freshman outside hitter Natalie Stepanovich was named the 2023 Blue Hen Invitational All-Tournament Team after pacing the team in kills (39) and service aces (6). She posted a 17.5-point performance in her first career game, netting 15 kills and nine digs. Stepanovich followed that up with her first career double-double, with 15 digs and 14 kills in a win over the Greyhounds.
• In the win over Niagara, a trio of Colonials registered double-doubles. Abby Ryan netted 15 kills and 10 digs, Stepanovich recorded 14 kills and 15 digs while Kaitlyn Brown collected 23 assists and 10 digs. Rosina Esposito tallied 13 kills while Hillarie Adams totaled nine kills and three digs during the win. Ashleigh Wallin secured 21 assists and six digs while graduate student Allena Carmody recorded 14 digs and four assists.
• In her first action in the blue and white, Esposito registered 30 total kills and 2.0 blocks in Delaware. Against Niagara, she posted 13 kills, two blocks, and a dig to help the Colonials secure their first win of the campaign. She followed that up with a 10-kill performance, with just two errors and a .348 hitting percentage against the Blue Hens.
• The Colonials return 11 veterans from 2022, including senior middle blocker/right side Emma Brown and senior outside hitter Abby Ryan, who each appeared in all 30 matches a season ago. Both earned a spot on the Horizon League All-Academic team in 2022 while Brown earned CoSIDA Academic All-District Team honors as well.
• Graduate student libero/defensive specialist Allena Carmody returns to the court for RMU after becoming just the 14th student-athlete in program history to eclipse 1,000 career digs. She ranked fifth in the Horizon League with 447 total digs in 2022 and paced the Colonials with 47 digs at the Blue Hen Invitational. Carmody tallied double-digit digs in all three contests.
• RMU continues non-conference action after the Chick-Fil-A Robinson Labor Day Classic, traveling to Fairfax, Va., for the Mason Invite. The Colonials will take on the host George Mason (9/8) and Radford (9/9) before ending with Brown (9/9).

 
CHICK-FIL-A ROBINSON LABOR DAY CLASSIC LINKS
Live Stats vs Canisius (11:00 a.m.)
Video vs Canisius (11:00 a.m.)
Live Stats vs Duquesne (6:00 p.m.)
Video vs Duquesne (6:00 p.m.)
 
The All-Time Series (Canisius) – Saturday's opener of the 2023 Chick-fil-A Robinson Labor Day Classic marks the 20th meeting in the all-time series between the two programs. The Colonials hold a 10-9 advantage in the series, capturing a 3-1 victory last season. In the last meeting, RMU dropped the first set before winning three straight sets to capture the win. Ally Christman gave the Colonials a huge boost off the bench as part of a balanced offensive attack, establishing career highs in both kills (12) and digs (17) in recording her first career double-double in an RMU uniform. Allena Carmody tied Christman for match-high honors in digs with 17 and in the process eclipsed 700 for her career.

The All-Time Series (Duquesne) - No strangers on the volleyball court, the Colonials own an all-time record of 12-31 against the Dukes in a series that dates to 1984. RMU has won three consecutive over Duquesne, including a 3-2 victory last season in the final match of the Chick-fil-A Robinson Labor Day Classic at the UPMC Cooper Fieldhouse. Ryan became the third different student-athlete for the Colonials to notch a double-double during the 2022 season Saturday against the Dukes, pacing RMU with 17 kills while also recording a .295 hitting percentage, a pair of service aces and 14 digs. Emma Brown continued her consistent play in the middle as she reached double figures in kills for the first time in 2022 with 12 and also led the Colonials with a .647 attack percentage. Kaitlyn Brown finished with 18 assists in the win while also posting a pair of kills and nine digs.

Crossing 1000 Assists – Junior setter/right side Ashleigh Wallin entered the Blue Hen invitational just six assists shy of 1000 and she went right to work. In the opening set against Loyola (Md.), Wallin posted exactly six assists in the first set, concurring the milestone while setting up Natalie Stepanovich for a kill. The West Virginia native totaled 17 assists and nine digs against the Patriots before tallying 23 assists and 10 digs in the win over Niagara. Walling ended the tournament with 19 assists, four digs, and two service aces against Delaware. She has 1051 assists, 277 digs, and 70 service aces in her career.
 
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