ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT women's volleyball team finished its first round of Liberty League crossover play with a sweep of its conference rivals on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers (13-8, 3-1 Liberty League) picked up 3-0 victories against Vassar (8-9, 3-5 Liberty League) and Bard (8-12, 0-8 Liberty League) at Clark Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.
 
In the first match, Vassar and RIT battled close throughout. The first set saw the Tigers jump out to an early 8-4 lead before the Brewers rallied back to tie on a RIT set error. Late in the set, Vassar held what seemed to be an insurmountable lead at 23-20, before the Tigers erupted for five straight points, capped off by three Sarah Szybist (Chicago, IL/Ramstein) kills, to earn a 25-23 set win. 
 
In the second set, RIT used three separate runs of three points or more to take the 25-21 set win, capped off by kills from Sybist and Anna Valentine (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon). Set three saw the Tigers take a 13-9 lead, before a service ace by Vassar's Annie MacMillan helped Vassar crawl back to eventually tie the game at 22. The Tigers ended the game on a 3-1 spurt, with Valentine and Szybist supplying the finishing points.
 
Szybist led both teams with 16 kills, adding four digs. Rebecca Bennett (Springfield, PA/Springfield) led the team in digs with 11, with Erin Parkinson (Carrollton, TX/W.T. White) adding 10 and a match-high 32 assists. Laiz Novaes (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Centro Educational) added eight kills and five digs for the Tigers, who picked up an important conference win.
 
"I am really pleased with our performance," said RIT volleyball head coach Jim Lodes. "Vassar does many things well and we were disciplined most of the match. The team responded well. This is a good team win."
 
For the Brewers, Devan Gallagher had 12 kills and a block. MacMillan had 21 assists and one kill. Chloe Hallum had 11 digs to lead Vassar.
 
In the second match against Bard, RIT cruised to a 25-7 set win in the opener, capped off by runs of 7-1 and seven straight points to end the set, with the Tigers hitting .273 as a team. In set two, Bard kept it closer. RIT started to pull away, ending the set on a Sara Taylor (Tonanwanda, NY/Kenmore East) kill to win 25-14.
 
In set three, RIT was in a precarious situation, with Bard jumping out to an 11-4 lead. The Tigers erupted for a 10-1 run to take a 14-13 lead. From there Bard and RIT battled in a see-saw affair. With the game tied at 24, and Bard threating to take the set, Taylor Harkness (Batavia, NY/Batavia) helped put the match away, first by helping Liz Wunder (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan Academy) on a crucial block, and ending it with a service ace.
 
Taylor led the Tigers in kills with nine, adding nine digs, one block and an ace. Aleah Chinn (Wichita, KS/Witchita Southeast) added seven kills and three digs, while hitting an impressive .636. Taylor Harkness (Batavia, NY/Batavia) led the team in assists with 15 while adding three kills.
 
Sofia Koukia led the Bard attack with six kills, adding nine digs. Victoria Chou led the team in assists with nine, hitting .500.

"We played a really good match versus Bard," said Lodes. "Many people contributed. This was a good weekend for us as we attempt to reach our Liberty League goals."
 
The Tigers will hit the road next weekend as they participate in the Worthington Classic at Gallaudet, starting with two Friday matches against The Catholic University of America (10-11, 2-3 Landmark) and Desales University (11-6, 2-1 Middle Atlantic-Freedom)