Preview: Robert Morris volleyball vs Youngstown State

Maria Alfano (left) and Alyson Londot (right) Maria Alfano Photo credit: Morgan Torchia

Logan Carney, Sports Manager

The Robert Morris volleyball team (3-7) will be taking on the Youngstown State Penguins (6-4) on Tuesday, Sept. 11 at the North Athletic Complex. The game time is scheduled at 6:00 p.m. Here is all you need to know about the volleyball team’s next match:

Charm City winning

The volleyball team returns to Robert Morris after going 2-1 in the Charm City Challenge and finishing second. On Friday, the team defeated UMBC (3-6) and Loyola (4-6) both by scores of 3-2 before falling to James Madison (8-2) by the score of 3-0 on Saturday. Stars of the tournament for Robert Morris include Alyson Londot, who had 34 kills in the three matches, and Whitney Brown, who had 88 assists in the first two matches of the tournament.

Scouting Youngstown State

The Youngstown State Penguins come to Robert Morris with an overall record of 6-4. However, after starting the year 3-0, they have since gone 3-4 in their last seven match-ups. In their six wins on the year, Youngstown State has only gone to five sets once. That match was against UNLV (6-3) and took place at the Duquesne Invitational at the AJ Palumbo Center. Their most recent match-up was against UNC Wilmington (7-3), in which the Penguins fell to the Seahawks three sets to one. That match was during the Jefferson Cup in Charlottesville, VA. During that tournament, Youngstown State went 1-2 with the win being over George Mason (2-7) with the final score being 3-1, and the other loss coming from Virginia (4-5) who won all three sets against the Penguins.

The top players for Youngstown State include sophomore Margaux Thompson and junior Aleah Hughes, both of who have over 100 kills on the young season. Thompson currently leads the team with 125 kills while Hughes is second with 104 kills. Furthermore, red-shirt Freshman Alexia Byrnes leads the team in assists with 291.

Colonial performers

The Colonials’ top performer of the year is Alyson Londot. Londot currently leads the team with 97 kills on the year and an average of 2.62 per set. The next highest Colonial in kills is Maria Alfano with 65 kills. The second highest in per set is Emma Granger with 1.91 per set average.

As for more of the defensive side of things, Alfano has a team-high 31 blocks on the season. She is closely followed by Granger, who has 29 blocks on the year. Allie Yurkovic leads the team with 118 digs while Nikolette Zanolli is second on the team with 100 digs. No other Colonial currently has more than 100 digs on the season.

Rest of non-conference slate

The non-conference season is currently winding down, as the Colonials only have one match and a tournament left to play before the NEC season starts. That tournament will be hosted by Robert Morris and will feature Eastern Michigan (8-3), Houston (11-1) and Purdue Fort Wayne (7-4). That tournament will take place from Sept. 14-15. The conference season starts with an away match against Central Connecticut (2-8) on Friday, Sept. 21 at 7:00 p.m.