ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The RIT women's volleyball team opens the 2023 campaign this Friday and Saturday with four matches at the Gettysburg College Battlefield Classic. Here are six things you need to know about the team entering the season. 
 
STRIVE FOR FIVE
RIT finished the 2022 season with a 16-17 record, including a 5-3 Liberty League mark during the regular season. Seeded fourth for the conference tournament, the Tigers qualified for their fourth-consecutive Liberty League Semifinal appearance with the quarterfinal win over Vassar before falling to eventual champion Ithaca.
 
SET THE STAGE
Senior Sydney Neff returns after landing American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) All-Region honors for the second-straight season. Also a two-time First-Team All-Liberty League selection, Neff led the conference with 976 assists (next closest was 853) and was second with 9.21 assists per set. She compiled at least 30 assists on 18 occasions, along with eight matches with better than 40, including a season-high 56 assists to go along with 12 digs in a 3-2 win at Skidmore (Oct. 28). Neff also finished 10th in the conference with 0.45 service aces per set.
 
CAT'S MEOW
Junior Cat Vento returns after leading the Liberty League with a .316 hitting percentage and ranking second with 0.87 blocks per game last season. She totaled a .571 hitting percentage with eight kills to go along with seven blocks in a victory over Morrisville (Oct. 1). Vento also had eight kills and four blocked shots in a five-set victory over visiting Rochester (Sept. 21).
 
PHELAN GOOD
Senior Grace Phelan finished the 2022 season ranked seventh in the Liberty League with a .275 hitting percentage. She also ended the campaign second for the Tigers with 60 blocked shots and 0.71 blocks per set. Phelan notched career-highs with 11 kills and five service aces along with a .455 hitting percentage in a five-set loss versus Rowan (Sept 24).
 
SERVED HOT
Senior Hailey Blixt led the Liberty League with 72 service aces and was second with .0.61 service aces per set. She logged a season-high seven service aces on two occasions, including the victory at Skidmore (Oct. 28), and also had six in a four-set win over Union (Oct. 21). Also ranked among the conference leaders with 2.78 digs per set and a team-leading 331 digs, Blixt logged 18 matches with double-digit digs, including a career-high 25 versus Rowan (Sept. 24).
 
THE SCHEDULE
After starting this weekend in Pennsylvania, RIT will play three matches at the UofR Invitational next week (Sept. 8-9) before hosting the RIT Invitational (Sept. 15-16). The Tigers will take on host Brockport (Sept. 19) in a single match before heading to Massachusetts for the Tufts Invitational (Sept. 22-23). RIT kicks off Liberty League play at Bard and will also take on SUNY Poly (Sept. 30) before hosting Clarkson (Oct. 6), St. Lawrence and Nazareth (Oct. 7). Following a trip to Morrisville (Oct. 10) four a single match, the Tigers will host Ithaca (Oct. 13) Stevens and Denison (Oct. 14) for the Brick City Invitational. Three straight Liberty League road matches at Vassar (Oct. 20), Union (Oct. 21) and William Smith (Oct. 25) precede four home matches against Rochester, Oneonta (Oct. 27), Skidmore (Oct. 28) and Fredonia (Nov. 3), before a tri-match at Geneseo with Carnegie Mellon (Nov. 4) to close the regular season.