Women's Volleyball | 10/9/2015 7:57:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The RIT women's volleyball team took a break from Liberty League play with a trip to the ninth annual Worthington Classic at Gallaudet University. The Tigers (13-10, 3-1 Liberty League) dropped a pair of matches, falling to the Catholic University of America (11-12, 2-3 Landmark) in four sets, and to Desales (14-8, 3-1 MAC Freedom) in three sets on Friday afternoon.
 
In the opener against Catholic, the Tigers were unable to stop a strong Cardinal attack. The first set saw Catholic score the first four points. The Tigers crawled back, taking a 8-6 lead in the set by an Amy Van Hienen (Castor, Alberta/Gus Wetter) kill, but an 8-3 run by the Cardinals led to a 25-17 victory.
 
In the second set, the Cardinals led throughout, winning 25-15 on a Mary Paige Nesfeder kill.
 
Set three saw a comeback performance by the Tigers, as they overcame a 15-9 deficit, taking an 18-17 lead off a Liz Wunder (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan Academy) kill. After a Cardinals rally of their own, taking a 21-19 lead, the Tigers scored three straight points to take the lead for good, eventually winning the set, 25-22 on a couple of Sara Taylor (Tonanwanda, NY/Kenmore East) kills.
That momentum did not carry to the fourth set, as Catholic was able to take an early 5-0 lead, en route to a 25-15 final set win.
 
Van Hienen led the team with 17 digs, adding six kills while hitting .357. Erin Parkinson (Carrollton, TX/W.T. White) paced the team with a double-double, 30 assists and 11 digs.  Sarah Szybist (Chicago, IL/Ramstein) led the Tigers in kills with seven. The Tigers hit .105 as a team.
 
For the Cardinals, Nesfeder led with 15 kills and nine digs. Michelle Bouchard had a game-high 23 digs and a kill.
 
"I thought we started lethargically," said RIT head coach Jim Lodes. "We need to have great energy and effort throughout our matches but especially at the beginning of sets. I have high expectations for us and we need to consistently bring quality effort."
 
Desales made late runs in all three sets to take the match. In the first, down 7-5, the Bulldogs were able to go on a 20-6 run to take the set, 25-13. The second set saw the Tigers rally after falling behind 7-1, eventually bringing the set to within two after a Szybist kill. Desales responded, taking control of the set, with the final eight of 12 points, winning 25-18. The final set was tight throughout, with eight lead changes. RIT kept it close, thanks to kills by Van Hienen and Aleah Chinn (Wichita, KS/Witchita Southeast), and an Abby Higgins (Peru, NY/Peru) service ace, but the Bulldogs closed the match scoring the last eight of 11 points.
 
Szybist once again led the Tigers in kills with nine. Maddy Price (Baldwinsville, NY/C.W. Baker) led RIT in digs, with 17. For Desales, Gabby Savite had a double-double, making 11 kills while adding 11 digs.
 
"I'm excited we've had this opportunity to play good teams this weekend," said Lodes. "We need to match or exceed the focus and energy that our opponents are bringing. If we learn from this, it should benefit us during Liberty League play the next two weekends."
 
The Tigers will continue play with two more games at the Worthington Classic on Saturday. The first match will be against Messiah (16-2, 4-1 MAC Commonwealth) at noon, with the second opponent to be announced after, detemined on pool seeding.