LORETTO, Pa. – The Saint Francis women's volleyball team opened NEC play Saturday afternoon against Robert Morris, and the Colonials came away with a three sets to one victory over the Red Flash. Robert Morris won 25-16, 21-25, 25-17 and 25-11.
 
Robert Morris used a 9-0 run in the first set to help turn an early 4-3 deficit into a 20-7 lead. After the Colonials took a 23-10 lead, the Red Flash mounted a run late in the set on the strength of kills from Sophie Murdock (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion ) and Lauren Williams (Reno, Nev./Damonte Ranch). That brought the Flash back to within 23-16, but RMU closed the set with consecutive points to take a 1-0 lead.
 
Though it dropped the first set, the Red Flash carried that late momentum into game two. Back-to-back kills from Hannah Kutny (Clifton Park, N.Y./Catholic Central) and Murdock gave the Flash an early 6-4 lead. Breanna Opera (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster ) scored to make it 10-8, and Kutny went on a personal 3-0 run to extend the Flash lead to 13-9. After Murdock made it 14-10, three straight Flash points extended the lead to 17-11.  Opera pounded home two points to make it 23-18, and a kill by Kutny and an attacking error finished off the Colonials in set two. Kutny led the way for the Flash with 13 kills and 16 digs.
 
A closely played third set went against the Flash, thanks in part to a mid-set run that saw the Colonials pull away from the Flash on two separate occasions. A 4-0 run for RMU made it 15-9, but the Flash fought back with four consecutive points to cut the lead back to two points. That run started with a kill from Opera and finished with an ace by Maria Cup (Chesterland, Ohio/Gilmour Academy). Opera finished the match with eight kills. Cup had five kills, two digs and the ace. Robert Morris opened the lead back to five points and held the Flash to just four single points in the remainder of the set. Kutny and Murdock combined for a block and Cup had a kill in the final portion of game three.
 
After an error cut the RMU lead to 9-8 in the fourth set, the Colonials pulled away with an 11-1 run that concluded with Robert Morris ahead, 20-9. Kutny added two kills in the latter stages of the fourth set, but the Colonials won, 25-11, to take the match.
 
Jenna Veres (Independence, Ohio/Padua Franciscan) finished with 11 digs, and Lauren Williams (Reno, Nev./Damonte Ranch) had a game-high 31 assists.
 
Saint Francis returns to action next weekend with a trip to Brooklyn. SFU faces St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday and LIU Brooklyn on Sunday.