MOON TOWNSHIP- The Robert Morris Colonials (9-19, 2-14 Horizon) welcomed the Youngstown State Penguins (14-13, 8-8 ) to a conference matchup that had the Penguins on the cusp of the last playoff spot.

The Colonials were trying to put a dig into the Penguins’ playoff hopes but fell short three sets to one. Robert Morris had fire and passion throughout this entire game, just like the whole season.

“It is something that we have had all year. [It’s] something we have worked on.” head coach Danny Doherty said. “A lot of these matches haven’t gone our way, we have been really gritty in doing what we need to do in order to get better, and I think it really showed tonight, a couple of points here and there and we get a much better result, I think that fire and passion that we have had is something that we can cut our teeth into.”

With two weeks left in the season and the Colonials falling to 9-19 on the season and 2-14 in conference play, they will not be in the playoffs. However, Doherty wants the team to finish strong with two matches left.

“I mean, they are creating a foundation, they are creating what needs to happen for the future; what was on display tonight is, Youngstown is a team that we want to be, we want to be in that playoff mix for the tournament, and it showed that we were able to be point for point with them tonight,” Doherty said.

The Colonials did not give up in this match, as they played hard throughout the game. The sets they closed were by less than four points, which is so close in a group.

There were a couple of players that had some critical moments throughout the match. Emma Brown had a massive day as she got rolling early with a kill in the first set to stop the momentum of Youngstown State. Later in the set, she had another kill to give the Colonials the early lead of 5-4.

Later in the first set, the Colonials were down by a score of 20-18, and Emma Brown pulled off back-to-back kills to tie the game up for the Colonials at 20 a piece. Ultimately, they would lose the first set, but Brown played a huge part in keeping the team in the match.

Ally Christman also played a big part in the match, having multiple kills in the game to keep Robert Morris within striking distance in all of the sets. In the third set, she had a massive kill that set up the Colonials to bring momentum on their side to win set three.

Abby Ryan also had a big part in today’s game. She collected multiple kills and some big ones to close out the third set. Ryan has been stepping in many ways to help her team this season. She played a crucial role in winning set number three in the match.

RMU has two more matches at home before the season ends, one against Wright State and the other against Northern Kentucky. They will look to finish the season on a winning note and gain some momentum with the young core they have going into next season.