Volleyball | 9/14/2017 1:44:00 PM

Robert Morris (5-7) at Robert Morris Invitational
Friday, Sept. 15 vs. Middle Tennessee State (1:30 p.m.)
Friday, Sept. 15 vs. Penn (6:30 p.m.)
Saturday, Sept. 16 vs. Rutgers (12:30 p.m.)
 
Top Story
The Robert Morris University volleyball team will try for its fifth win in its last seven matches when the Colonials host the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at 1:30 p.m. Friday during the two-day Robert Morris Invitational. The Colonials will follow that up Friday at 6:30 when they take on Penn, and they conclude the tournament, part of the university's Homecoming festivities, Saturday at 12:30 p.m. against Rutgers.

Ordinarily, that alone would suffice as the top story, but these are no ordinary matches. The RMU Invitational will be the last NCAA Division I sporting event of any kind held at the Charles L. Sewall Center, or "The Chuck," as campus denizens have come to call it. The North Athletic Complex will be the stopgap home of Robert Morris volleyball, among other programs, while the Sewall Center is razed to make room for the new, state-of-the-art UPMC Events Center, which will open in January of 2019.

COMPLETE NOTES PACKAGE: Robert Morris Invitational (9/15/17 & 9/16/17)

Last Time Out
The Colonials took two out of three matches at the two-day Valley Forge Invitational in Philadelphia last weekend. Robert Morris swept Siena 3-0 (25-17, 26-24, 25-18) on Fri., Sept. 8 before bowing to Navy, 3-0 (25-27, 21-25, 23-25), and edging host La Salle University 3-2 (7-25, 25-17, 29-31, 25-9, 16-14) on Sat., Sept. 9. Freshman middle blocker Emma Granger, in addition to her Valley Forge Invitational All-Tournament Team selection, earned NEC Rookie of the Week honors for her efforts. Granger hit .364 and averaged 2.82 kills and 1.27 blocks over the three matches, also racking up ten service aces in that span.

Up Next
Robert Morris begins Northeast Conference play by traveling to Loretto, Pennsylvania next Friday to take on Saint Francis University at 7:00 p.m.
 
Scouting The Opponents
Middle Tennessee (3-8) was swept in its first six matches and lost eight in a row overall before running the table at the Comfort Inn-vitational in Morehead, Kentucky Sept. 8-9. MTSU defeated Troy 3-1 and South Carolina State 3-0 that Friday, then took down Morehead State, 3-1, last Saturday. It was the first time in seven seasons that the Blue Raiders went perfect in a preseason tournament.
 
Penn (3-3) opened its 2017 season by falling to Campbell in the opening match of the George Mason Invitational Sept. 1 before defeating Central Michigan, 3-1, later that day, and taking down the hosts 3-0 Sept. 2. The Quakers, like the Colonials, are coming off a split in the Valley Forge Invitational that began with a Sept. 8 sweep of Siena. Their weekend concluded with a 3-1 loss to Navy Sept. 9 and a 3-2 loss to La Salle Sept. 10.
 
Rutgers (3-6) makes its way to Moon trying to snap a five-match losing streak. Most recently, the Scarlet Knights went winless at the Kangaroo Classic, getting swept by Northern Iowa and host Missouri-Kansas City Sept. 8, then falling to South Dakota 3-1 Sept. 9. Their last win was a 3-0 decision over visiting Siena Aug. 30.
 
About Robert Morris
The Colonials were predicted to finish in fifth place in the 2017 NEC Preseason Coaches' Poll. RMU missed qualifying for its 18th consecutive NEC Tournament by just one game last season. In each of the last 18 seasons, the Colonials have posted a winning record in league competition, which stands as the longest such streak of any NEC member, past or present.
 
MUSKET SHOTS
 
Bye-ya, Chuck!
Once again, the Colonials will wave goodbye to the Sewall Center this Homecoming weekend, and while "The Chuck" will be torn down eventually, the legacy they leave in their longtime home venue will never disappear. With a capacity of 3,056, the Charles L. Sewall Center for Leadership has housed the Robert Morris volleyball program since 1985, when it was dedicated and named for the man who served as RMU's president 1967-1989. The Colonials enter the Robert Morris Invitational with a presumed all-time record of 187-118 (.613) at "The Chuck," though precise records for the 1985-86 and 1988-90 seasons were not kept. The Sewall Center hosted the Northeast Conference Women's Volleyball Championships in 1997, 2004 and 2008, with Robert Morris capturing an NEC final berth in '04.
 
Frosh Still Flourishing
Emma Granger has been recognized by the NEC each of the first three weeks of the season, as the rookie middle blocker continues to shine as one of the conference's breakout stars. Against La Salle, the Dalton, Ohio native reached season-highs in digs (6), kills (15), points (21.5) and service aces (5). Granger leads the Colonials in kills per set (2.93) and blocks (42), and she has climbed into a fifth-place tie on the NCAA leaderboard with 23 aces—having just faced national front-runner Alyssa Cianciulli of La Salle (29), interestingly enough.

Doubling Up
Alyson Londot finished with double-digit kills (15) versus the Explorers, one of four Colonials to do so; Mirna Sarjanvoic (15), Maria Alfano (13) and Granger (13) were the others. Furthermore, Londot did it for the seventh time this year, and she added 13 digs for her second double-double of the weekend and fifth of the season. Another member of a promising freshman class that includes all four aforementioned players, Londot has taken the team lead with 123 kills as an outside hitter, averaging 3.43 per set in the month of September.

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