CANTON, Ohio – The Roberts women's volleyball team picked up its first win of the season on Saturday at the Hall of Fame City Challenge hosted by Walsh University and Malone University. The Redhawks defeated Malone in three straight sets to earn its first victory of the 2023 campaign.
Roberts (1-5) had to fight from behind in both the first and thirds sets against Malone, overcoming deficits of at least five points.
In the first set, Malone took a 14-9 advantage, but the Redhawks responded with a 6-1 run to tie the set at 15 all.
Laura Amaya provided the offensive spark with three kills during that run. Amaya later provided the winning kill to take the set 25-22.
In the second set, Roberts scored the final six points of the set to take a 25-18 win.
Olivia Price came up big down the stretch with three kills to solidify the dominant set win.
In the third set, the Redhawks again had to rally from behind as Malone took a 15-10 lead. Roberts regained the lead later in the set after five straight points put the Redhawks up 19-18. Roberts went on to a 25-22 set win.
Price finished with 12 kills in the match while Amaya had 10.
Caleigh Schroeder had 32 assists.
On the defense the Redhawks had 10 block assists, with
Celine Malosa adding three,
Sydney Yanak,
Morgan Verbridge and Schroeder with two and Amaya with one.
"The girls were very excited," said head coach Andy Braun, who is in his first season with Roberts. "We've thrown a lot of information at them over the last month as we've begun working into new systems and they are picking them up. It's already started clicking."
The Redhawks went 1-4 over the weekend. Braun said he could tell the team was feeling the fatigue of two tournaments in two weekends, which included four matches during the Hall of Fame City Challenge. Roberts opened the weekend with a five-set match against Fairmont State that featured a 34-32 score in the second set. "I could tell that we had moments of fatigue where we let down a little bit at times, but the girls kept battling all weekend," Braun said.
Next Sunday, Roberts will head to Dominican University for a tri-match with Millersville University and Dominican. The first match will serve at 2 p.m.
