ROCHESTER, NY– The RIT volleyball team (14-20, 3-7 Liberty League) dropped a pair of critical Liberty League contests, falling to Union (19-7, 8-2 Liberty League) in straight sets (25-18, 25-15, 25-22) and Clarkson (26-6, 11-0 Liberty League) in the same fashion (25-2, 25-12, 25-13), eliminating them from postseason contention.
 
The Tigers opened up with a loss to Union, the Liberty League's second place team, and showed some fight despite the three set sweep. In the third set RIT was able to battle with the Dutchwomen and brought the match down to the wire in a 25-22 loss.
 
#Sara Martin (Rochester, NY/West Irondequoit)# led the Tigers, racking up a team leading nine kills in the match. She had support from setters #Arielle Pariente (Twinsburg, OH/Twinsburg) and Emma Dowdy (Cocoa, FL/Edgewood)# who notched 14 and 13 assists, respectively. Dowdy also recorded 10 digs in the match as well.
 
The road got harder for RIT who faced Liberty League defending champion Clarkson University. The Knights showed why they were undefeated in conference play coming into Friday, controlling the match right from the outset. In the first set RIT struggled to get any kind of offensive attack going, as they finished the set with just one kill. Although they fared somewhat better in sets two and three they were no match for the Knights swept a three-set win.
 
Dowdy finished the match with a team leading six kills, with Valentine next in line with three of her own. Libero #Bethany Davis (Blasdell, NY/Frontier)# had 14 digs for the Tigers.
 
RIT is back in action Saturday, October 26 when they face Skidmore College (9-16, 2-9 Liberty League) at 12 p.m. and St. Lawrence (17-9, 6-4 Liberty League) at 2:30 p.m. Both matches will be played at Clark Gym.