ROCHESTER, NY – Freshman Katie Hobler (Rochester, NY/Our Lady of Mercy) slammed a season-high 22 kills to lead the RIT volleyball team (10-2, 2-0 Liberty League) to its eighth straight victory, 25-19, 25-16, 25-13 over St. Lawrence University (8-5, 0-2 Liberty League) from Clark Gymnasium Saturday.
 
RIT pulled away late in the opening set, scoring the final five points to win 25-19. Hobler had six kills in the set for the Tigers. The Tigers led 16-15 in the second set before reeling off nine of the next 10 points to win 25-16. Hobler had five of the Tigers last nine points in that set. RIT dominated from the start in the final set, scoring 15 of the first 21 points en route to closing out the Saints.
 
The Tigers were stronger as the match progressed, hitting .323 and .389 over the final two sets and hit .312 overall. RIT had 49 kills to 26 for St. Lawrence and doubled the Saints up in assists, 46-23. St. Lawrence did hold an 8-2 edge in blocks.
 
Hobler hit a season-best .579 with 22 kills in 38 attempts. In addition, she added six digs. Taylor Higgins (Peru, NY/Peru) had nine digs and eight kills, while Kelly Watters hit .500 with eight kills. Setter Erin Parkinson (Carrollton, TX/W.T. White) continued her strong play, dishing out 39 assists to go along with six digs and three kills. Sara Taylor (Tonawanda, NY/Kenmore East) added five kills.
 
Defensively, Maria Simonetti (Rochester, NY/Our Lady of Mercy) (15) and Paige Daly (Allison Park, PA/Hampton) (12) combined to record 27 digs. In addition, RIT held the Saints without a service ace for the entire match.
 
Grace Kelly led the Saints with eight kills, while Maddy Bishop had 10 assists and five digs. Regan Collier-Hogan led the way with 13 digs, while Amanda Teppo and and Mac Barnes had four assisted blocks each.
 
Both teams opened up Liberty League play last night. RIT defeated six-time defending Liberty League Champion Clarkson on the road in four sets, while the Saints fell to No. 15 Ithaca at home in four sets.

"I am really pleased with how the weekend went," said RIT head coach Jim Lodes. "I thought we played better as the matches went on in both (against Clarkson and St. Lawrence). Our challenge will be finding ways to keep improving, but I think we have potential to be a really good team."
 
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 29-23.

RIT is right back in action on Tuesday evening with a road contest at University of Rochester that gets underway at 6 p.m.