Neff and Vento named Women's Volleyball All-Liberty League

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – RIT graduate student setter Sydney Neff and senior middle blocker Catherine Vento were named to the 2024 Liberty League Women's Volleyball All-Conference Team, announced Tuesday.
 
Neff was voted a first-team honoree while Vento landed second-team recognition.
 
Sydney Neff

• Neff is only the third RIT player to earn four Liberty League All-Conference awards, joining Taylor Higgins '22 and Sarah Szybist '17. Neff is also only the third Tiger to garner three first-team awards, joining Szybist and Katie Hobler '22.
• Neff was named to the Liberty League First-Team in 2021 and 2022 before landing on the second-team in 2023. She was also named the Liberty League Rookie of the Year in 2021.
• Neff entered the 2024 postseason 14th nationally and first in the Liberty league in assists while ranking third with 8.67 assists per set.
• Finishing the fall with a career-high 1,095 assists, she finished her career seventh in program history with 3,907 assists.
• Neff totaled 15 double-doubles this season in assists and digs, including a season-high 56 assists to go with 14 digs in the five-set win at St. Vincent (Aug. 30). She also had a four-set season-high 43 assists to go along with 14 digs in the win over Bard (Oct. 11). 

Catherine Vento

• Vento was named a Liberty League All-Star for the first time in her career.
• She entered the postseason leading the Liberty League with a .319 hitting percentage and was one of only two players in the top-12 with more than 500 total attempts.
• She also led the conference in total blocks and was second in blocks per set, finishing with a career-high 114 blocks and 1.01 blocks per set.
• Her 266 career assisted blocks rank seventh in program history.
• Vento closed 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). 

RIT finished the season with a 19-14 record, including a 4-4 Liberty League record to clinch its sixth-consecutive and 10th overall Liberty League Tournament appearance since joining the conference 13 years ago. The fifth-seeded Tigers upset fourth-seeded Union, 3-2 (25-22, 13-25, 25-21, 13-25, 15-13) to advance to their ninth Liberty League Tournament Semifinal, before falling at top-seeded Ithaca, 3-0 (25-10, 25-21, 25-16).