Women's Volleyball | 11/5/2018 4:41:00 PM

ROCHESTER, NY – The RIT volleyball team will compete in the 2018 NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament. RIT heads to an eight-team regional as the No. 2 seed at Ithaca College and will face No. 7 seed Nazareth College in a first round contest at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 9.
 
The winner of RIT and Nazareth will face the winner between No. 3 seed Carnegie Mellon University and No. 6 seed Morrisville State in the regional semifinal at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The regional championship will take place at 2 p.m. Sunday. Sunday's winner will advance to the eight-team NCAA Championship which will be held at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa. from Nov. 16-18.
 
The Tigers, who are currently 28-4, won their first Liberty League Championship in four sets over Clarkson Saturday, earning the automatic bid into the tournament. RIT is making their 11th trip to the NCAA Tournament and first since the 2007 season. RIT had a 15-match winning streak earlier in the season and is 26-2 mark over its last 28 matches.
 
Katie Hobler (Rochester, NY/Our Lady of Mercy), the Liberty League Championship Tournament Most Outstanding Player, leads the Tigers and is fifth nationally with 489 kills, while hitting .327 this season. She is seventh in Division III with 4.38 kills per set. Senior setter Erin Parkinson (Carrollton, TX/W.T. White), the Division III's all-time active leader in career assists (4,696) is among the national leaders in assists (fifth - 1,240) and assists per set (14th nationally - 10.69) this season. On Tuesday, Hobler was named the Sports Imports/American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) National Player of the Week.
 
Taylor Higgins (Peru, NY/Peru) is second on the team with 338 kills and has a team-best 336 digs to go along with 45 service aces. Sara Taylor (Tonawanda, NY/Kenmore East) has 215 kills, while middle hitter Kelly Waters (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) is hitting .343 with 193 kills and 60 blocks. Fellow middle hitter Shelby Doheny (Moreau, NY/South Glens Falls) leads the way with 64 blocks and has added 165 kills. Maria Simonetti (Rochester, NY/Our Lady of Mercy) has a team-best 3.54 digs per set, while Paige Daly (Allison Park, PA/Hampton) leads RIT with 46 aces.
 
Nazareth enters the tournament with a 23-12 record and earned an automatic berth by defeating Stevens in five sets on Sunday in the Empire 8 Championship.
 
Kelsey Milligan leads five Golden Flyers with at least 200 kills, slamming 291 to go along with 98 blocks. Setter Jessica Barry has 1,053 assists (8.70/set), while Celia Cordero has a team-best 49 service aces. Savannah Bothner leads the Golden Flyers with 461 digs (4.43/set).
 
RIT and Nazareth waged a tremendous five-set battle at Clark Gym on Oct. 12, with the Tigers coming out on top in five sets. Hobler slammed a career-best 32 kills and added 18 digs, while hitting .464 for the Tigers in that match and Parkinson dished out 57 assists. Carmen Sapp led the Golden Flyers with 11 kills, while Barry added 34 assists.
 
Other regional contests include host and top-seed Ithaca (17-8) versus No. 8 seed Southern Vermont (21-6), No. 4 seed Stevenson University (21-11) vs. No. 5 seed Hunter College (24-8) and No. 2 Carnegie Mellon (22-10) vs. No. 7 Morrisville (25-6). Ithaca is the only other team in the region that RIT has faced in 2018. The Bombers came away with a four-set win over RIT on Oct. 10.
 
RIT made the national tournament five consecutive seasons from 1989-93, culminating in a third place finish under current head coach Jim Lodes in 1993. RIT also made the NCAA Tournament four straight times from 1996-99 and in 2007.

There will be single-day general admission ticketing for each of the three days of competition. The prices are $6 for Adults and $4 for Student/Seniors(65+). Complete visitor information is available at the 2018 NCAA Regional Championship Tournament Page.