DALLAS, PA - The RIT volleyball team (2-1) split a pair of matches at the Misericordia Quad Meet on Saturday. RIT opened the day by falling to nearby rival SUNY Geneseo in three sets before dispatching the hosts in three sets.
In the opener, RIT hung tough, but could not get past the Blue Knights, falling 21-25, 20-25, 19-25. Sophomore outside hitter
Sarah Szybist (Chicago, IL/Ramstein) led the way offensively with 17 kills to go along with three service aces and five digs.
Amy Van Hienen (Castor, Alberta/Gus Wetter) added six kills and three digs, while
Bethany Davis (Blasdell, NY/Frontier) had seven digs.
Emma Dowdy (Cocoa, FL/Edgewood) dished out 16 assists
Lizzy Morton led Geneseo (2-0) with eight kills. Bethany Vandermeid had 19 assists and three service aces, while Dani Shayler added 10 digs.
"Geneseo did a great job closing out the sets and had better energy than us in the first match today," said RIT head coach
Jim Lodes.
RIT rebounded to defeat Misericordia, 25-14, 25-13, 25-19 in the weekend finale. Szybist slammed 19 kills, while hitting .351 to go along with five digs.
Sara Martin (Rochester, NY/West Irondequoit) had a team-high nine digs to go along with six kills. Dowdy recorded 26 assists and four blocks, while Davis had five digs and three service aces.
Shelby Brochetti led Misericordia with six kills and added four digs, while Nicole Tagerty had 13 assists.
"Overall, we learned a lot about ourselves this weekend," said Lodes. "We played a much better second match against Misericordia. They work so hard and we raised our level of intensity to try to match them today. It resulted in some really good stretches of play for us. We still need to make every rally of a match important enough to give it our best efforts."
Last night, Lodes picked up his 250th win at RIT in its four-set victory over Misericordia. Szybist had 27 kills in the win last night, giving her 63 in three matches this weekend.
RIT is back in action on Fri., Sept. 5 and Sat., Sept. 6 at the Nazareth Invitational. The Tigers play Lycoming and Hilbert on Friday and Hartwick and Nazareth on Saturday.
