Women's Volleyball travels to Union for Liberty League Quarterfinals

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The RIT Women's Volleyball is set to take on Union in the Liberty League Quarterfinals on Tuesday (Nov. 12) at 6:00 p.m.
 
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
The fifth-seeded Tigers (18-13) and the fourth-seeded Garnett Chargers (19-10), along with sixth-seeded Skidmore, each finished with a 4-4 Liberty League record this fall. Union won the three-way tie-breaker based on owning wins over both RIT and Union during the regular season, while RIT defeated Skidmore.
 
RIT IN THE LIBERTY LEAGUE TOURNAMENT
RIT qualified for its sixth-consecutive Liberty League Tournament as well as its 10th appearance since joining the conference in 2011. The Tigers will be in the hunt for their second conference championship and first since winning the 2018 title.
 
REWIND THE TAPE
Union handed RIT its first Liberty League loss of the season with a 3-1 (25-20, 13-25, 25-21, 25-23) decision over the host Tigers on Oct. 12. RIT sophomore outside hitter Mia Gerber logged a match-high 14 kills while sophomore outside hitter Macie Jolliffe added 13 kills and nine digs. Graduate student setter Sydney Neff was credited with 43 assists, 11 digs and seven kills while senior middle blocker Catherine Vento had 11 kills on .346 attacking.
 
TOP CAT
Senior middle blocker Catherine Vento leads the Liberty League with a .319 hitting percentage and is one of only two players in the top-12 with more than 500 total attempts this season. She also leads the conference with 107 total blocks and is second with 1.02 blocks per set. Vento finished the regular season with career-highs of 15 kills (on .545 hitting) and 10 total blocks versus Brockport (Nov. 9). She also logged 12 kills without an attack error on 21 swings (.571 H%) opposite Oswego (Nov. 5).
 
HOW MAY I ASSIST YOU?
Graduate-student setter Sydney Neff ranks 14th nationally and leads the Liberty League with 1,032 assists while sitting third in the conference with 8.67 assists per set. Ranked seventh in program history with 3,844 assists to date, she has totaled 14 double-doubles this season in assists and digs, including a season-high 56 assists to go along with 14 digs in the five-set win at St. Vincent (Aug. 30).
 
ACE ON THE COURT
Graduate-student libero Hailey Blixt ranks 13th nationally with a Liberty League-best 69 service aces, while also entering the postseason leading the conference and ranked 44th nationally with 506 digs. Ranked fourth in the conference with 4.22 digs and 0.58 service aces per set, she moved up to fourth in program history with 236 service aces to date, including a four-set program record 11 in the 3-1 victory over Keystone (Oct. 26) which are tied for the second-highest single-match total in the country this fall. Blixt has totaled double-digit digs in all but four matches this season, including a career-high 34 during the five-set win at St. Vincent (Aug. 30).
 
THE KILLERS
Sophomore outside hitter Mia Gerber leads RIT and ranks third in the Liberty League with 293 kills, followed by senior outside hitter Samantha Cox, who is fourth in the league with 287 kills. Reaching double-digit kills in 17 matches this year, Gerber totaled a career-high 18 kills in the season-opening win over Bethany (Aug. 30) and also had 17 kills in four-set Liberty League wins opposite Skidmore (Sept. 27) and Bard (Oct. 11). Cox was credited with a career-best 22 kills in the victory over St. Vincent (Aug. 30) and also had 18 kills the following day in a win over Pitt-Greensburg (Aug. 31) for two of her 13 matches this fall with double-digit kills.  
 
WHAT'S NEXT
Tonight's winner advances to play at top-seeded Ithaca in Friday's Liberty League Tournament Semifinals at 6:30 p.m. with a berth in Saturday's championship match on the line.