Women's Volleyball | 10/25/2018 2:03:00 PM
ROCHESTER, NY – RIT and Nazareth College are set to host the 2018 New York State Regional Volleyball Challenge on Friday, Oct. 26 and Saturday, Oct. 27. Play begins with two courts at each school at 5 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday. Eleven teams will compete during the final weekend of the regular season.
Complete NYS Regional Challenge information is
available here.
The Tigers will take on Montclair State University at 5 p.m. Friday and on Saturday, host New York University at 11 a.m. and St. John Fisher College right after at 1 p.m.
RIT enters the final weekend of the regular season with a sensational 23-4 record and will be the No. 2 seed in the Liberty League Postseason Tournament that will take place on Nov. 2-3 at top-seed Ithaca College. The Liberty League Champion will receive an automatic berth into the 2018 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Tournament. RIT is looking for its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2007.
The Tigers are 21-2 over their last 23 contests. Senior setter
Erin Parkinson (Carrollton, TX/W.T. White) just moved into fourth place all-time at the university with 4,456 assists. She is in the midst of a tremendous senior season, with 1,000 assists for an average of 10.55 assists per set, which is 17th best in all of Division III.
Freshman outside hitter
Katie Hobler (Rochester, NY/Our Lady of Mercy) leads the Tigers and is 15th nationally with 384 kills and 4.22 kills per set. She also is 12th in Division III with 4.82 points per set. A four-time Liberty League weekly honoree, Hobler has slammed at least 10 kills in 15 consecutive matches and has seven matches with at least 20 kills. She also leads the Tigers with 40 service aces.
Sophomore hitter
Taylor Higgins (Peru, NY/Peru) has 289 kills and a team-best total of 280 digs to go along with 39 service aces. Senior tri-captain
Sara Taylor (Tonawanda, NY/Kenmore East) is third on the Tigers with 183 kills. Defensively,
Maria Simonetti (Rochester, NY/Our Lady of Mercy) leads RIT with 3.64 digs per set, while
Paige Daly (Allison Park, PA/Hampton) has 258 digs and 38 service aces.
In the middle,
Kelly Waters (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) and
Shelby Doheny (Moreau, NY/South Glens Falls) have formed a strong 1-2 punch. Waters is hitting a team-best .343 with 141 kills (2.01/set) to go along with 46 blocks (0.66/set), while Doheny is hitting .320 with 134 kills (1.52/set) in addition to a team-best 48 blocks (0.55/set).
Waters, Hobler and Doheny are all in the top-100 nationally in hitting percentage. Overall, RIT has the 19th best percentage in all of Division III, 31st best hitting percentage and is 51st nationally in kills per set.
Below are the participating teams for this weekend's tournament.
Participating Teams (Overall Record as of Oct. 24)
Buffalo State (3-25)
Cortland State (11-17)
Fredonia State (18-9)
Lycoming College (13-17)
Montclair State University (16-7)
Nazareth College (19-10)
New York University (15-12)
Pennsylvania College of Technology (1-20)
RIT (23-4)
University of Rochester (20-9)
St. John Fisher (15-14)
