MOON TOWNSHIP, PA – The Wright State volleyball team opened Horizon League play with three players tallying double-digit kills on Tuesday night as the Raiders defeated Robert Morris in four sets.
Wright State (5-7, 1-0 HL) took the opening set 25-23 before falling in a close second set (25-22) and rebounding for a 25-21 third set win and a 25-6 fourth set win to take the match over RMU (3-9, 0-1 HL).
Wright State now returns home to ready for its Horizon League home opener on Saturday afternoon against Northern Kentucky. Match time is set for 4 p.m. inside McLin Gymnasium and can be seen on ESPN+.
The Raiders finished the night hitting .250 as a group, rebounding to post team hitting averages of .326 and .375 in the third and fourth sets, respectively, after opening the night with hitting percentages of .180 and .186.
Megan Alders and
Aaliyah Byers each finished with a match-leading 16 kills while
Callie Martin tallied a double-double with 13 kills and 17 digs, just shy of
Jenny Wessling's match-best 21 digs.
Katie Meyer passed out 43 of the Raiders' 53 assists, while
Reilly Zegunis recorded six blocks and added five kills. Wessling and
Lauren Yacobucci each tallied two service aces and
Andrea Bortulin had the other Raider ace.
SET ONE
Wright State jumped out with seven of the first 10 points before RMU responded and took the advantage with a five-point run to lead 12-10. Both sides had small runs from there, with the Raiders rolling off a 7-2 run to push to set point at 24-19. RMU tallied four straight points to close the margin to one before an RMU error gave the Raiders the opening set 25-23.
SET TWO
RMU tallied five of the first seven points and later led 14-7 before Wright State used a 5-1 run behind four RMU errors to pull back into the set and then later tallied seven of eight points thanks to kills from Byers and Martin to take their first lead of the set at 19-18. RMU closed the set with six of the final eight points to grab the 25-22 set win.
SET THREE
Back-and-forth throughout the set, neither side was able to extend the advantage more than three points before Wright State used a 7-1 run behind four kills from Martin. After a pair of Byers kills, the Raiders reached set point and closed the set with a final kill from Alders to take the set 25-21.
SET FOUR
RMU took the first two points of the set and later trailed 5-3 before the Raiders rolled the rest of the way. After a four-point Raider run, the sides traded points and Wright State led 10-5. The Raiders rattled off 12 straight points to push to 22-5 before a RMU kill paused the run, only to have Wright State close the night with three final kills to take the set 25-6.
