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| Fourth years Christina Worth (#9) and Cat Sullivan (#12) set up a block during the third set of their match with Nazareth during the RIT Tournament, Saturday, September 15. Sullivan was named Tournament MVP. |
| Jonathan Foster |
Three-set wins sometimes indicate easy victories. However, some shutouts are hard- fought, even nerve-wracking, as each match within the set is a close contest. This was the type of shutout that the RIT Tigers imposed on the Nazareth College Golden Flyers at 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 15. Despite being defeated set after set, Nazareth was not lying down: Each match concluded with a narrower score margin than the one before.
The RIT Women’s volleyball team executed a winning formula at the 24th Annual RIT Invitational. Each of the nine participating teams played four matches each during the two-day round robin, which began Friday, September 14. After defeating Bluffton, New York University and Medaille each 3-1, the Lady Tigers finished strong on the court, handily defeating Nazareth 3-0.
The final tournament match for RIT was played against Nazareth at 2 p.m. on Saturday. RIT finished the first game 25-19 thanks to 10 kills against Nazareth’s four. As the Tigers came together and formed a close circle after each volley, their camaraderie was evident.
The second game started with Nazareth leading 1-5. The game was neck-and-neck for
18 Sports | 09.21.12
a while after that—the Tigers picked up a point (11-11), and then committed a serve error (11- 12). Nazareth scored a kill (13-14), and then the Tigers scored in return (14-14). The audience clapped politely for deserving plays, but the majority of the noise and energy came from the ladies on the court. Both teams wanted a win. As Nazareth crept closer to game point (16-19), their coach called a timeout. But the effect was not what he wished: RIT narrowed the score to 20-21. Two more timeouts were called, which made for quite the choppy pace, but the Tigers were able to pull ahead, finishing the game 25-22.
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| The Women's Volleyball team celebrates the winning point of their 25-23 match-deciding-set against Nazareth in the RIT Tournament, Saturday, September 15. |
| Jonathan Foster |
The Tigers’ great control gave them an early lead in game three. Nazareth was still able to make kills, but they never pulled ahead in this game. Even when RIT was winning by a five- point margin, they played like every point was the difference between victory and defeat. Well into the game, Nazareth scored a point when the volleyball ricocheted around the raised basketball net and was too far out of bounds for the Tigers to return (20-17). At game point, the Tigers committed a serve error, turning the serve over to Nazareth (24-20). Nazareth managed to stay alive for three more serves,
bringing a set win within arms’ reach. But ultimately, they could not overtake the Tigers. The third set ended at 25-22, RIT.
RIT Head Coach Jim Lodes was satisfied with how his team held up throughout the weekend. “We have a fit team, so we were able to be more physical towards the end,” he said regarding the game against Nazareth. He acknowledges the Tigers’ conscious effort to remain in harmony as a team. Their teamwork certainly paid off on Saturday’s final game.
The tournament’s MVP was Cat Sullivan, fourth year Computer Science/Computational Math major. Christina Worth, fourth year Visual Media major was named to the All- Tournament Team.
RIT came out of the weekend with a 9-3 record overall, 4-0 in the tournament. Nazareth left at 6-7, with a 2-2 tournament score.
The Tigers have another packed weekend coming up. You can catch them Friday, September 21 at 5 p.m. and 7:30p.m., and Saturday, September 22 at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. All of these games are Liberty League matchups and will be played in the Clark Gym.
