Women's Volleyball takes on Ithaca in Liberty League Semifinals, Friday

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The RIT Women's Volleyball is set to take on host Ithaca in the Liberty League Semifinals this Friday (Nov. 15) at 6:30 p.m.
 
HOW DID WE GET HERE?
The fifth-seeded Tigers (19-13) defeated fourth-seeded Union, 3-2 (25-22, 13-25, 25-21, 13-25, 15-13) in Tuesday's quarterfinals. Ithaca (20-6), which finished the regular season ranked No. 19 in the AVCA national poll, earned the top seed and a first-round bye for the Liberty League Tournament after finishing the regular season with an 8-0 record in conference play.
 
RIT IN THE LIBERTY LEAGUE TOURNAMENT
RIT is making its ninth Liberty League Tournament Semifinal appearance since joining the league 13 seasons ago in 2011. The Tigers will also be in the hunt for their third championship game appearance and first since winning the program's lone Liberty League title in 2018. RIT qualified for its sixth-consecutive Liberty League Tournament as well as its 10th appearance overall.
 
REWIND THE TAPE
RIT outlasted Union, 3-2, in Tuesday night's quarterfinals. Sophomore outside hitter Macie Jolliffe led the Tigers with 14 kills and also compiled 16 digs for her third double-double in four matches, while senior middle blocker Catherine Vento added 13 kills, five digs and four total blocks. Graduate student setter Sydney Neff was credited with 45 assists and a team-high 17 digs.

REWIND THE TAPE PART II
RIT fell at Ithaca, 3-0 (28-26, 25-12, 25-21) on Nov. 1 in the teams' regular-season contest. Senior middle blocker Catherine Vento led the Tigers with eight kills while sophomore outside hitter Macie Jolliffe added seven to go along with eight digs.
 
TOP CAT
Senior middle blocker Catherine Vento 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 this season. She also led the conference with 107 total blocks and was second with 1.02 blocks per set. 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).
 
HOW MAY I ASSIST YOU?
Graduate-student setter Sydney Neff entered the postseason 14th nationally and first in 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 3,889 assists to date, she has totaled 15 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 entered the postseason 13th nationally with a Liberty League-best 69 service aces, while also leading the conference and ranked 44th nationally with 506 digs. Also 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 241 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 305 kills, followed by senior outside hitter Samantha Cox, who is fourth in the league with 294 kills. Reaching double-digit kills in 18 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
Friday's winner advances to Saturday's Liberty League Championship match at 2:00 p.m. to face either second-seeded William Smith or third-seeded Clarkson, who square off in Friday's other semifinal match at 4:30 p.m.