SCHENECTADY, NY- RIT volleyball team (18-13, 6-4 Liberty League) dropped a pair of Liberty League matches hosted by Union College on Friday night.  The Tigers fell in three sets to Clarkson (26-3, 9-0 Liberty League) then to St. Lawrence (21-10, 8-2 Liberty League). Despite the two losses, RIT qualified for the Liberty League Tournament.
 
In the opener, Clarkson defeated RIT by scores of  25-19, 25-16, 25-18. Sophomore Sarah Szybist (Chicago, IL/Ramstein) led the team with 11 kills, two digs, and two blocks. Taylor Harkness (Batavia, NY/Batavia) and Amy Van Heinen both added five kills for the offense. Emma Dowdy (Cocoa, FL/Edgewood) direct the attack with 23 assists to go along with two kills and 11 digs. Bethany Davis (Blasdell, NY/Frontier) tallied 15 digs.
 
The Golden Knights had three players register eight kills apiece. Evanne Jimenez added 14 digs while Kirstie Shurie had 31 assists.
 
In the second match, RIT dropped the three sets to St. Lawrence by scores of 25-22, 26-24, and 25-11. Szybist put down a match-high 14 kills while adding two service aces and six digs. Laiz Novaes (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Centro Educational) registered ten kills while hitting at .526. Dowdy tallied 18 assists and Davis contributed 11 digs.
 
"We had a huge opportunity tonight to establish ourselves as a contender for the Liberty League championship but our energy level just wasn't there," said RIT head coach Jim Lodes. "I give all the credit to St. Lawrence, they out-worked us and had more energy and fight on every point. We need to have that same kind of urgency and enjoy competing if we expect to compete for a championship."
 
The Tigers will be right back in action at 12 and 2 p.m. to take on Skidmore and Union College, with third place in the Liberty League standings on the line.