ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT volleyball (13-9) let a late lead slip away, falling to The College at Brockport (12-6) in five sets in a non-conference contest at Clark Gymnasium on Tuesday evening. The Tigers led 8-0 and 10-2 in the fifth and decisive set before stormed all the way back to win, 15-13. The two teams traded wins in the first four sets, with Brockport winning sets one and three, and RIT, two and four.
In the opening set, Brockport took advantage of 17 RIT errors to take the first set, 25-22. In the second set, RIT hit .545 with 15 kills in a 25-19 win. Brockport won set three, 25-21, while RIT took a big lead in set four before hanging on to win, 25-23. In set five, Brockport ended the match on a 13-3 run to steal the match from RIT.
Kayla Wheeler (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) tied a season-high with seven blocks, including four solo to go along with five kills.
Sarah Szybist (Chicago, IL/Ramstein) led RIT with 20 kills and 10 digs.
Laiz Novaes (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Centro Educational) hit a team-best .280 with 11 kills, eight digs, and seven assists.
Emma Dowdy (Cocoa, FL/Edgewood) dished out 35 assists to go along with 11 digs. Libero
Bethany Davis (Blasdell, NY/Frontier) had a team-best 12 digs.
Kaitlin Slippy (Moultonborough, NH/Moultonborough Academy) and
Rebecca Bennett (Springfield, PA/Springfield) recorded three service aces apiece.
Brockport had 12 blocks in the match. Kayla Barber had 11 kills, eight digs, and three blocks. Ashley Capone added nine kills and a team-high seven blocks. Jamie Snyder had a team-best 16 digs for the Golden Eagles. Brianna Richardson hit .625 with six kills and four blocks. Rachel Fiser added 18 assists.
"Tonight was an interesting match," said RIT head coach
Jim Lodes. "We took control of several sections of the match, had many opportunities, but didn't handle the stress well. I feel like we need to communicate better and trust our training. When we play with confidence and trust, we can be a really good team. We need to continue to build that chemistry."
RIT is back in action with a road contest at the University of Rochester on Friday evening at 7 p.m.