Women's Volleyball | 10/1/2016 4:00:00 PM
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 FREDONIA, NY – The RIT volleyball team (13-8) split a pair of matches at the Blue Devil Invitational, hosted by Fredonia State University on Saturday. The Tigers opened the day with a five set loss to host Fredonia (11-7) and rebounded with a four set win over Buffalo State College (5-14). Senior
Sarah Szybist (Colorado Springs, CO/Ramstein) was named to the Blue Devil Invitational All-Tournament Team.
In the match against Fredonia, RIT won set one, 25-13 before Fredonia evened the match, 25-15 in set two. The two teams traded 25-20 wins in sets three and four, before Fredonia won 15-12 in the decisive fifth set.
Szybist led the way with 20 kills and 19 digs.
Anna Valentine (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon) recorded a double-double with 13 digs and 11 kills, while
Liz Wunder (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan Academy) added five kills and two blocks.
Erin Parkinson (Carrollton, TX/W.T. White) also had a double-double with 39 assists and 13 digs, while
Maria Simonetti (Rochester, NY/Our Lady of Mercy) added 15 digs.
"Both teams were streaky," said RIT head coach
Jim Lodes. "Our process was much better today but we still must finish the plays we are making. We had several opportunities to take control but didn't quite execute."
RIT rebounded in the win over Buffalo State, taking the match by scores of 25-7, 25-16, 21-25, 25-16. The Tigers slammed 44 kills and hit .274 to go along with seven overall blocks.
Szybist hit .556 with 16 kills in just three sets. Parkinson added 34 assists, six kills (.625 hitting percentage), six digs, and three blocks.
Anna Valentine (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford Mendon) hit .556 with five kills and 10 digs. The duo of
Rebecca Bennett (Springfield, PA/Springfield) (14) and Simonetti (13) combined for 27 digs to lead the way. Simonetti also led the way with three service aces.
Shelby Doheny (Moreau, NY/South Glens Falls) led RIT with four blocks and added four kills, while
Joelle Marston (Roxbury, NJ/Roxbury) also had four kills.
"We were better with our process and execution this match," said Lodes. "We generally responded to any adversity. This was a good bounce back win."
Last night, the Tigers opened play in the Blue Devil Invitational by falling to John Carroll in three sets on Friday evening.
RIT is back in action on Wednesday, Oct. 5, as former Empire 8 rival Nazareth comes to Clark Gym for a 7 p.m. start.
