MOON, PA- Three back-and-forth sets went the way of the Robert Morris Colonials as RMU held serve on their home court on Friday night.
 
RMU defeated the Red Flash 25-21, 25-22, 25-20 to drop the Red Flash to 3-9 in Northeast Conference play.
 
BOX SCORE LEADERS
Saint Francis was led by Alexis Lambert (McKinney, Tx./McKinney-Boyd) and Madi Tyus (Plano, TX/Bishop Lynch) who each had nine kills. Tyus and Nicole Adams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) each had seven digs while Lambert and Sophia Esposito (Coraopolis, PA/Montour (Gardner-Webb)) each had a pair of blocks on the defensive end.
 
For Robert Morris, Emma Granger had a match-high 12 kills to go along with six service aces. Granger also added six blocks to lead RMU, Allie Yurkovich had 15 digs to lead all players.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
FIRST SET RECAP

• Robert Morris surged ahead with a pair of kills to take and early 5-2 lead
• Nicole Adams (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa East) ripped a pair of aces and SFU took advantage of RMU errors to go on a 8-0 run and force a timeout
• SFU maintained a comfortable lead, trading points with RMU
• Emma Granger flipped the script in the set, running off four-straight aces to give RMU back the lead and force a timeout
• The Red Flash would recover, getting kills from Lambert and Adams to draw even at 19
• RMU would see-saw back in front to force a SFU time out at 22-20 Colonials, the timeout couldn't slow the Colonials' momentum who closed the set at 25-21

 
SECOND SET RECAP

• An early 4-0 run from the Colonials prompted an early timeout from Saint Francis, down 6-2
• Elise Dumouchelle (Ashburn, Va./Broad Run) got hot on a service run, running off four-straight points including an ace to knot the match at six
• The Colonials would take advantage of a Granger kill and a pair of errors to build a 11-7 lead
• The Red Flash would chip away at the RMU lead, getting kills from Tyus to cut the lead down to one
• SFU would continually be down one until a kill from Adams and an attack error drew them even at 18
• Emma Granger would again be a difference maker with a pair of aces to force another SFU timeout
• Two kills from Tyus and an ace from Amelia Metzler (Littleton, Colo./Chatfield) tied the set at 22, capping a 3-0 run and forcing a RMU timeout
• Out of the timeout, the Colonials would rip off three-straight points, closing out the set at 25-22

 
THIRD SET RECAP

• Madi Tyus (Plano, TX/Bishop Lynch) got things rolling for SFU early in the set with an ace and two kills to give SFU an early 5-2 lead
• RMU rebounded to score the next three points to tie the match and the teams would continue to go back-and-forth
• The Colonials built their largest lead of the set at 15-12, forcing another Red Flash timeout
• Another service run from Dumouchelle out of the timeout got SFU back even at 15
• The set would be tied at every step of the way until 18-18
• Again, Granger proved key as she recorded a kill to help RMU take a 20-18 lead
• The Red Flash would get no closer than one the rest of the way as RMU closed the set on a 4-0 run to take the set and the match at 25-21

 
LOOKING AHEAD
The Red Flash will honor their graduating class next weekend as they play host to Sacred Heart and Fairleigh Dickinson. The Pioneers of Sacred Heart are up first on Friday afternoon. The match will start the "Salute to Service" weekend with a 430 first serve scheduled.