Women's Volleyball | 10/12/2016 11:00:00 AM

ROCHESTER, NY — The RIT women's volleyball team will host the 28th annual RIT Invitational on Friday, Oct. 14 and Saturday, Oct. 15 at Clark Gymnasium. Competing in this year's tournament will be The College at Brockport, DeSales University, St. John Fisher College, Trine University, and Utica College. Action begins at 3 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. Saturday.
 
RIT (15-11, 8-4 Liberty League) clinched a Liberty League postseason berth for the third straight season. The Tigers are coming off a 2-2 split in league play last weekend at Clarkson and St, Lawrence. They defeated Skidmore and fell to Clarkson on Friday, before taking down St. Lawrence and losing to Union the following day.
 
RIT leads the country in total assists this season, with 1,144. Senior Sarah Szybist (Colorado Springs, CO/Ramstein) leads the NCAA with 539 kills, along with the second most kills per set (5.23). Sophomore Erin Parkinson (Carrollton, TX/W.T. White) has notched a Liberty League best 834 assists this season.
                                                                                        
Last season, the Tigers went 3-1 in the RIT Invitational, as Szybist was named the MVP for the third consecutive year. This year, the Tigers face Utica at 3 p.m. and Trine at 7 p.m. on Friday, before taking on St. John Fisher at 10 a.m. and DeSales at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
 
Brockport (19-2, 6-0 SUNYAC) is coming off a perfect 3-0 weekend of conference play at New Paltz last weekend, where the Golden Eagles swept Plattsburgh State and New Paltz, before defeating SUNY Geneseo 3-1. Brockport is the only SUNYAC team still perfect in conference matches this season. Freshman Kelly Waters (.415) and junior Brianna Richardson (.358) are atop the SUNYAC in hitting percentage. Junior defensive specialist Aimee Spilman was named the SUNYAC Player of the Week on Tuesday.
 
The Tigers will not face the Golden Eagles in this year's tournament, but the two schools will face each other on Tuesday, Oct. 25 in RIT's final home match of the season.
 
DeSales (13-8, 3-1 Middle Atlantic Freedom) started the season with five straight wins, but has since gone 8-8. The Bulldogs are coming off a week where they won both mid-week matchups, one against conference foe Misericordia. The Bulldogs have one more matchup, a Wednesday evening tilt with conference opponent Wilkes at home, before heading to Rochester.
 
Freshman Morghan Shoemaker was named the MAC Freedom player of the week on Monday. Shoemaker (2.64 kills per set) and sophomore Gabby Savite (3.77 k/s) lead the Bulldogs this season. The Tigers have never defeated the Bulldogs in all-time history in two attempts. The last time the teams faced each other was in 2015, a three-set sweep for DeSales in the Worthington Classic.
 
St. John Fisher (8-11, 4-2 Empire 8) comes into the RIT Invitational having split a pair of Empire 8 Crossover matches at home last weekend. The Cardinals were swept by Ithaca, before defeating Hartwick in four sets. St. John Fisher also travels to Keuka to take on the Wolves Wednesday night at 7 p.m. before heading to RIT this weekend.
 
Junior Anna Marcy (3.82 kills per set) and freshman Phoebe Kane (560 assists and 44 service aces) lead the Cardinals this season. Kane's 0.68 aces per set leads the Empire 8 conference this season. The Tigers are 58-30 all-time against the Cardinals, with the last matchup taking place last season, a 3-1 Tiger win in the 2015 RIT Invitational.
 
Trine (2-17, 2-8 Michigan Intercollegiate) plays one more conference contest at Kalamazoo Wednesday at 7 p.m., before making the trip east to Rochester.  Both of the Thunder wins this season came in league play, at Alma College and at home in the first matchup with Kalamazoo. Trine and RIT have only played once all-time, a Thunder victory in 2011.
 
Utica (5-20, 0-6 Empire 8) is coming off a tough two-loss weekend in Empire 8 action at home last weekend. The Pioneers have five wins in non-conference play. The Tigers lead the all-time series 13-0, the last matchup coming in 2010 at the RIT Tournament, a three-set sweep for RIT.
 
The full tournament schedule can be found on the 2016 RIT Invitational Tournament page and live stats will also be available for this weekend's matches.
 
After the home tournament, the Tigers will head to Pittsburgh, Pa., to compete in the Carnegie Mellon Invitational. RIT will take on Case Western and Elizabethtown College on Friday, Oct. 21 and Messiah College and Carnegie Mellon on Saturday, Oct. 22.