Volleyball Opens Season Saturday At Robert Morris Tournament

Aug. 26, 2015

Tournament Information

Location	Moon Township, Pa. \| Charles L. Sewell Center
Getting There	Directions

Opponent	UMBC Retrievers
Date	Saturday, August 29, 2015
Time	11:00 a.m.
Online Media	Live Stats

Opponent	Robert Morris Colonials
Date	Saturday, August 29, 2015
Time	6:00 p.m.
Online Media	Live Stats \| Video

Opponent	Canisius Golden Griffins
Date	Sunday, August 30, 2015
Time	2:00 p.m.
Online Media	Live Stats

Kicking Off The Season

The Loyola University Maryland volleyball team opens its 2015 season at the Robert Morris Tournament in Moon Township, Pennsylvania.
The Greyhounds will play crosstown foe UMBC in the first match on Saturday, Aug. 29 before facing the host Colonials that evening. Loyola wraps up competition in the tournament against former Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponent Canisius University on Sunday, Aug. 30.

Pittenger Takes Over Program

This weekend's matches will mark the first regular-season games for Alija Pittenger as the Greyhounds' head coach. Named to the post in January, Pittenger is no stranger to the first seat on the bench at the collegiate level.
She was the head coach at fellow Jesuit school, and another former MAAC foe, Fairfield University from 2008-2013 before she moved to the Baltimore area to join the Towson University staff in 2014.
With the Stags, Pittenger was a two-time MAAC Coach of the Year (2011 and 2012), and she led Fairfield to the NCAA Tournament in 2012 and 2013. She left the Connecticut school as Fairfield's all-time winningest coach (113-77). Last year, she was an assistant at Towson, helping the Tigers to a 27-5 record, a huge turnaround from Towson's 2013 team that went 10-24.

Lukas Looking To Pick Up Where She Left Off

Jane Lukas enters her junior season at Loyola looking to continue the pace that she set at the end of the 2014 season where she posted 10 or more kills in 12 of the Greyhounds' final 14 matches (she had nine in the other two).
Thanks to registering 10-plus kills in Loyola's last seven contests, she was second in the Patriot League in kills per set (3.25) behind teammate Molly Cichosz.

Cichosz Finishes 2014 Strong, Too

Molly Cichosz finished the 2014 season leading the Patriot League in kills per set, averaging 3.33 in her freshman campaign.
After battling an early-season injury, Cichosz returned to post excellent numbers, as well, in the final several games of the year. In Loyola's last nine matches, the State of Washington native averaged 3.97 kills per set, posting 10 or more in six matches.

Players Mentioned