POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – The RIT volleyball team (15-12, 4-2 Liberty League) split a pair of matches in Liberty League crossover play held at Vassar College on Friday evening. RIT rolled to a three-set win over Bard (10-16, 0-10 Liberty League) and dropped a tough, five-set match to Union (20-4, 4-2 Liberty League).
 
RIT won a tight first set, 25-22, but pulled away to win the second set, 25-16, and took set three, 25-14. The Tigers hit .341 as a team with 42 kills. Bard led 14-11 in the opening set before RIT scored the next five points and nine of the next 11 to gain the lead. In set two, RIT scored eight of the final 11 points to pull away and in set three, jumped out to a 17-5 lead.
 
Erin Parkinson (Carrollton, TX/W.T. White) led the Tigers offensively with 29 assists to go along with a season-high eight service aces and team-best eight digs. Sarah Szybist (Chicago, IL/Ramstein) slammed 16 kills to go along with three assisted blocks. Kayla Wheeler (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) and Laiz Novaes (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Centro Educational) both had six kills apiece. Wheeler hit .556, while Novaes hit .400 with five digs. Anna Valentine (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon) had four kills, while Liz Wunder (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan Academy) and Sara Martin (Rochester, NY/West Irondequoit) hit .667 and .500 respectively.
 
Sofia Koukia led the Raptors with seven kills, while Tytravia Riley had four blocks. Victoria Chou dished out 18 assists and Phillipine Alba added nine digs.

"I thought we played a good match against a relentless Bard team," said RIT head coach Jim Lodes. "This was a good start to our weekend."
 
Against Union, the Dutchwomen won the first set by a score of 25-16, before winning set two, 25-23. Union rallied to win set three, 29-27, while RIT rebounded to win the fourth set, 25-20. Despite holding leads of 8-6 and 11-10, the Tigers could not hang on, falling 15-13.
 
Novaes slammed 15 kills to go along with 10 digs, while Szybist had 15 kills and five blocks. Amy Van Hienen (Castor, Alberta/Gus Wetter) added 11 kills and 13 digs. Parkinson dished out 45 assists with a team-high 14 digs. Bennett added 10 digs, while Abby Higgins (Peru, NY/Peru) led the squad with a pair of service aces. Taylor Harkness (Batavia, NY/Batavia) had six kills and four blocks.
 
Rachel Wyman led Union with 19 kills, while setter Amanda Price had 50 assists. Defensively, Katherine Moeller recorded 28 digs. Lauren Woods had 11 kills and six blocks.
 
"I was really proud of our resiliency in the Union match," said Lodes. "This was a very good match that unfortunately someone had to lose. I'm looking forward to our matches tomorrow if this is a sign on how we will compete."
 
The Tigers are now 2-0 against Bard this season and 10-0 all-time against the Raptors. RIT is now 8-7 all-time against Union.
 
RIT is right back in action in league play on Saturday, heading over to Bard to play Skidmore at 12 p.m. and Vassar at 2 p.m.