Women's Volleyball | 9/4/2015 10:35:00 PM

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 GETTYSBURG, PA – The RIT women's volleyball team (2-1) split an evening doubleheader, defeating Mount St. Mary (0-2) in three straight sets and coming up just short in a hard-fought battle with McDaniel College (3-0) in five tight sets at the Gettysburg Battlefield Classic Friday.

In game one, RIT won a tight first set, 25-23, before cruising in the second, 25-13, and taking over late in the closing set, 25-20. The Tigers cruised behind stellar play by a pair of upperclassmen: Sarah Szybist (Chicago, IL/Ramstein) and Laiz Novaes (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/Centro Educational). Novaes had seven kills and seven digs, while Szybist finished with a team-high 13 kills and four digs. Taylor Harkness (Batavia, NY/Batavia) added four kills, hitting .571, and adding three digs.

"I'm really happy that we have been able to have many people contribute so far this year," said RIT volleyball head coach Jim Lodes. "This was a good team win."

In match two, the Tigers fell behind early, dropping the first two sets, 25-14 and 25-20, before a furious rally, winning sets three and four in identical 25-18 scores to knot the match at two apiece. The team could not maintain momentum in the final set however, losing their first match of the season by dropping the fifth set 15-9.

Szybist once again had a stellar match, leading the team with 20 kills, while Rebecca Bennett (Springfield, PA/Springfield) added 23 digs. Erin Parkinson (Carrollton, TX/W.T. White) also had a tremendous outing, with three kills, hitting .429, and coming up with 43 of the team's 51 assists after racking up 17 in game 1.

"I'm really proud of our fight in games three and four," said Lodes. "There was some growth in this team. We will learn from this tough loss as we should now know what it takes to finish. I'm excited for tomorrow's matches."

The Tigers will continue tourney play with two games, first against Gallaudet at 10 a.m, and the finale against York (Pa.) at noon.