Sloppy play and simple mistakes marred the day for Robert Morris Volleyball as they fell 3 sets to 1 in a must win match-up against the LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds. RMU now sits on the outside looking in for the conference tournament with 5 matches remaining in the season.

The Colonials started off looking like the inconsistent and young team that was seen at the beginning of the season rather than the consistent NEC powerhouse which had thus far looked like a threat to challenge for the top seed in the conference tournament.

After going down as much as 18-9 in the first set, there was very little the Colonials could do in terms of a rally in the first set as RMU fell, 25-18. Coach Starr was clearly frustrated, taking stars like Leah Dunivan off the court upset with her inability to follow the gameplan.

Set two was not much more of an improvement, as six errors in that set alone almost matched their seven total against Saint Francis earlier in the season. The dismal performance left the Colonials going into the break down two sets after falling 25-21.

“We didn’t execute our game plan until maybe the end of set two…Very very disappointing that we couldn’t come out and do anything that we worked on,” said Robert Morris head coach Dale Starr.

Robert Morris has lost the first set in three of their last four matches, a trend which makes it harder to win in the tough second half of the conference season.

Arden Fisher was perhaps the one standout in this match, although it went unnoticed with the slew of missed digs and bad passing which was seen from young stars like Taylor Lord and even Fisher herself.

Along with miscommunication which resulted in April Krivoniak getting hit in the face with the volleyball and players colliding on the court, as the chemistry which made this unit so strong appeared nonexistent.

Even when things started to come together and the Colonials appeared to be ready to force a decisive fifth set against the Blackbirds, it was calls that went against the Colonials which left the players unable to finish the job and coach Starr even more frustrated.

One call specifically was the failure of the referees to call a foul when the LIU player was serving over four players stacked in front of her called a screen (a tactic used at least 5 times by LIU Brooklyn throughout the match). This miss is something that coach Starr hopes to bring up with the NCAA.

It seems as though nothing went the Colonials way, and now their backs are against the wall as it seems all they have worked so hard for all season could be over with another bad showing tomorrow against Saint Francis Brooklyn.

It is up to Kristin Thompson and Fisher to rally the team quickly after a tough loss, and propel the Colonials into the NEC Tournament and their shot at an NCAA tournament appearance.