POTSDAM, NY -- The RIT (14-10, 7-3 Liberty League) women's volleyball team went 1-1 on Friday in a pair of Liberty League matches hosted by Clarkson University. The Tigers opened Friday with a five-set win over Skidmore (10-10, 2-3 Liberty League, but fell to host Clarkson (14-4, 5-1 Liberty League) in three sets to complete the evening's contests.

In the opening match, Skidmore won the first set 25-18. RIT rallied to win sets two and three by scores of 25-21 and 25-15 respectively. The Thoroughbreds won the fourth set 25-12, but RIT came back to win the fifth set 15-12.

RIT had 62 kills and hit .253, while Skidmore recorded 49 kills and hit .196. RIT excelled in the third set, hitting .355 with 16 kills and stepped it up in the fifth set, hitting .286.

Sarah Szybist (Colorado Springs, CO/Ramstein) led RIT with 25 kills, hitting .449 for the match. She added four assists, 13 digs and a block. Anna  Valentine added 12 kills, while Liz Wunder (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan Academy) finished with 10 kills, a solo block and two assisted blocks. Erin Parkinson (Carrollton, TX/W.T. White) finished with 44 assists and 12 digs, while Rebecca Bennett (Springfield, PA/Springfield) added 13 digs. Sara Taylor (Tonawanda, NY/Kenmore East), Wunder, and Shelby Doheny (Moreau, NY/South Glens Falls) led the way with three blocks each.

Bailey Hutchins led the Thoroughbreds with 16 assists and 12 kills, while Catie Canfield added 19 digs and nine kills.

"After a slow start, I felt we did a really good job near the end of set one," said RIT head coach Jim Lodes. "We started out great in the fifth set, but Skidmore would not quit. I'm proud of us holding on. This was a good win considering how we played at times."

In match two RIT fell to defending Liberty League champion Clarkson by scores of 25-13, 25-14 and 25-23. Szybist led RIT with 16 kills and nine digs. Joelle Marston (Roxbury, NJ/Roxbury) added a season-high 11 kills, while Parkinson dished out 24 assists and had nine digs. Valentine added eight digs and a pair of blocks.

Clarkson, who hit .321 for the match, had three players recorded at least eight kills. Rachael Aird and Rachel Reusch led the way with 10 each. Reusch also added four blocks, while Kate Isaksen led both teams with 18 digs and Jillian Saenz recorded 33 assists.

"Clarkson was great in sets one and two," said Lodes. "They won the serve and receive game early and really established their middle attack. We fought back in set three and really battled most of that set. We just have to trust ourselves and finish plays. I hope that tomorrow we will compete with confidence on every point and get after it."

RIT returns to action on Saturday 8 for a pair of Liberty League matches. The Tigers face St. Lawrence at 12 p.m. and Union College at 2 p.m. Both matches are on the campus of St. Lawrence. RIT wraps up Liberty League play and can clinch a postseason berth with a good showing.