ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT volleyball team (5-3) kicked off play at the 2014 RIT Invitational by rolling to a three-set win over Medaille (3-9) at Clark Gym on Friday evening. RIT rallied to win the first set, 25-23, and rolled to 25-20 and 25-15 victories.

The Tigers trailed midway through the first set before rallying. RIT hit .444 in the opening set, .286 in the second set, and .367 in the third, as they hit .372 overall with 40 kills.

Sophomore Sarah Szybist (Chicago, IL/Ramstein) slammed 17 kills to go along with five digs and a pair of service aces, while hitting .364. Classmate Emma Dowdy (Cocoa, FL/Edgewood) hit .583 with seven kills and 14 assists, while junior Laiz Novaes (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Centro Educational) led the squad with 24 assists to go along with six digs, while hitting .800.Sara Martin (Rochester, NY/West Irondequoit) had seven kills, while Bethany Davis (Blasdell, NY/Frontier) recorded 11 digs and four service aces.

For Medaille, Bailey Salemi recorded seven kills, while Simmone Talford dished out 19 assists. Jenna Cleversley had eight digs, while Hannah Johnson added seven.

"After a slow start, I thought we played really well tonight," said RIT head coach Jim Lodes. "It was one of our best defensive efforts in a long time and did a good job executing offensively. We want to maintain that level defensively and continue to improve as a team."

RIT is right back in action on Saturday morning as the squad hosts St. John Fisher at 11 a.m. and Keuka at 1:30 p.m.