Moon Township, Pa. – The Eastern Kentucky volleyball team responded to Wednesday's season-opening loss to Kentucky by earning a pair of hard fought five-game victories on day one of the Duquesne/Robert Morris Invitational. Senior Lesley Aldridge came up big in both games for EKU, leading the team in kills in both matches, including a 24-kill, 23-dig effort against Akron.

In their first match of the day, the Colonels (2-1) rallied from a 2-0 deficit against Robert Morris to win the next three games, including an 18-16 decision in game five, thanks in part to a defense which totaled 19 team blocks.

Eastern suffered a 30-18 loss in its first game against the Zips, but rallied to take the next two (30-21, 33-31). Akron pushed the contest to a pivotal game five with a 30-20 win in the fourth, but the Colonels claimed the match with a 15-10 victory in the final set.

With two more big performances, Aldridge's assault on the EKU recorded books continues. The senior co-captain moved into sixth place on the school's all-time digs list, moving past former Colonel Cindy Thomsen (1,092 digs). With 1,125 career digs, Aldridge needs just 15 more to overtake Becky Klein in fifth (1,139 digs).

Aldridge also managed to move into ninth place on the school's all-time attacks list with 2,803 career attempts.

Eastern Kentucky 3, Robert Morris 2
(23-30, 25-30, 30-27, 30-27, 18-16)
Aldridge set the tone for EKU with her third double-double in as many matches. Against the Colonials, the native of Cranberry Township, Pa., registered a match-high 29 kills after taking a career-best 80 swings.

Despite outhitting the Colonels .247 to .158, Robert Morris took the loss, thanks in part to the efforts of sophomore Kasha Brozek and junior Liz Guard. Brozek posted 10 blocks in the match, including a career-best five solos. Guard wasn't far behind, tallying nine blocks off four solos and five assists. Eastern's co-captain also chipped in 19 kills and hit a team-best .474 from the floor.

The Colonels did more than just block against RMU, though, as four players tallied 18-or-more digs. Freshman Brittany Nobilio set the pace with a career-best 32 digs, followed by 21 from sophomore Kelly Jennings, who added 58 assists and four aces. Aldridge and sophomore Jessica Sabath followed with 18 digs a piece.

Freshman Amy Arlinghaus did her part with a career-high 12 kills in reserve.

Eastern Kentucky 3, Akron 2
(18-30, 30-21, 33-31, 20-30, 15-10)
As an encore to her first match of the day, Aldridge recorded her first 20-20 double-double of the season to move the Colonels to 2-1 on the year. Guard wasn't far behind Aldridge's effort, registering 16 kills off a team-high .306 hitting percentage.

Once again, the Colonels claimed victory even though they were outhit by their opponents. The Zips enjoyed a better hitting percentage (.202 to .158) and more blocks (11.0 to 6.0), but took the loss after EKU limited them to a .154 hitting percentage in the final game.

Nobilio, who has led the Colonels in digs in each of her first three collegiate matches, came away with a team-best 31 digs in the contest and enters Saturday's action averaging 6.37 digs per game. Sabath added 20 digs and six kills in the win, while Jennings posted a season-high 61 assists to go with her 15 digs. Freshman Mallory Eikenberry came off the bench to record a career-best eight digs against Akron.

The Colonels return to the court tomorrow with an 11 a.m. match against Duquesne. Eastern will then round out its stay at the invitational with a 3:30 p.m. bout versus Georgia State.