MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – RMU volleyball battled on the road and swept Youngstown State on Tuesday evening.
 
With the win, the Colonials move to 9-14, 4-8 HL while the Penguins dropped to 7-17, 1-11 HL.
 
KEY SET MOMENTS

• Both teams exchanged points constantly as there was six lead changes in the first set. With the score tied at 20, RMU would go on to score five out of the next eight points to close the stanza. The difference maker proved to be service errors as Youngstown State had three compared to RMU who had none.
• The Colonials got off to a quick start offensively in the second set jumping out a 6-2 lead thanks to four attack errors from the Penguins. Youngstown State would climb back into the set but it was the dominance at the service line from RMU that was the key as the Colonials had five aces in the stanza.
• The third set showed the fight that the Colonials had continuously bouncing back from deficits during the entire stanza. RMU saw themselves down 23-18 when the offense took over and went on a 9-2 run. As the Colonials went on that run they played stellar defense while the Penguins committed five attack errors which led to their defeat.

 
SUCCESS AGAINST THE PENGUINS
The Colonials have found success against their local rival as RMU has won back to back matches along with three wins in the last four matchups. This was the first win for RMU at Youngstown State since the 2020 season which was also coincidentally the last time the Colonials swept the Penguins.


QUOTABLES
RMU head coach Danny Doherty spoke after the match following the win. Doherty opened his statement talking about the team's complete performance, "It was huge. I think we played fairly well this weekend. There were just a couple things that didn't go our way, and we attacked those in practice over the last couple days, and coming in here, these guys are tough. They are a very tough team. They have some some power out of out of 23 and four and five do a great job on the pin. But it's this. This was no this was no easy sweep. This was a gutsy sweep. This was something that was really dug and we worked in hyper drive, and we, I don't think we've done that a lot this year. And I don't mean that from a negative point. I mean this was, this was exquisite. What they put on the court today was exquisite." Doherty closed his statement talking about the next challenge being conference leader, Wright State. Doherty stated, "I mean, I'd be lying to you if I didn't tell you that I had eyes already ahead on the weekend, but that's what you have to do with this awkward scheduling. And we made it. We made it a point to make sure that we knew what YSU was all about. And we're going to be going over the scout and getting the papers in our girls hands tonight. Wright State, obviously, they're, they're top of the conference for a reason, and we're going to get after them and get it done as best as we can. And we're going to pull out some dubs.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Natalie Stepanovich led the Colonials with 13 kills in the three-set match while also compiling 13 digs. The Colonials had a match-high 11 aces as Azra Eric, Ally Christman, and Ashleigh Wallin each led the team with three aces.
 
UP NEXT
RMU will stay on the road and make another short trip, this time to Dayton, Ohio to battle Wright State this weekend. The first match is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. and the concluding match will take place on Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
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