CAMBRIDGE, MA -- The RIT (5-5) women's volleyball team was defeated 3-0 by Tufts University (21-25, 18-25, 7-25) Saturday morning, and lost 3-1 to No. 20 Babson College (21-25, 25-27, 25-22, 9-25) at the MIT Invitational.
Versus Tufts,
Katie Hobler (Rochester, NY/Our Lady of Mercy) led the Tigers with 11 kills and eight digs.
Taylor Higgins (Peru, NY/Peru) tallied 10 kills and added five digs, while
Kelly Waters (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) chipped in eight kills.
Brianna Ellis (Wayne, PA/Radnor) handed out 26 assists, and
Maria Simonetti (Rochester, NY/Our Lady of Mercy) finished with 10 digs.
RIT trailed 14-11 in the first set, but battled back, winning four straight points, taking a 15-14 lead on a Higgins kill. After an attack error by the Tigers gave the Jumbos a 19-18 lead, the Tigers would come back to take a 20-19 lead on a Hobler kill, but would fall 21-25.
Tufts jumped out to an 11-4 lead early in the second set. The Tigers clawed their way back into the set, pulling to within 16-12 in a kill from Waters. Hobler cut the Jumbos lead to 18-15 on her kill, but Tufts would hold to win the second set, and the third set.
Versus Babson, Hobler led RIT with 19 kills, while
Kelly Waters (Burnt Hills, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) chipped in nine kills. Higgins finished with 16 digs and six kills, and
Brianna Ellis (Wayne, PA/Radnor) handed out 40 assists.
Maria Simonetti (Rochester, NY/Our Lady of Mercy) tallied 15 digs, and
Shelby Doheny (Moreau, NY/South Glens Falls) had seven kills.
The Tigers dropped the first two sets against Babson, but battled back to win the third set, 25-22, before falling 25-9 in the fourth set.
"We hopefully are using this opportunity to understand what it takes to compete at a high level," said RIT head coach
Jim Lodes. "We have moments of greatness but need to sustain the focus and discipline required to play quality opponents. As we continue to grow as a team we will look back at weekends like this as fuel towards becoming difficult to play against."
RIT returns to action on Friday, Sept. 20, versus Susquehanna University at the River Hawks Classic at 8 p.m.