HENRIETTA, NY – For the second straight match, the University of Rochester volleyball team battled back from an 0-2 deficit to top cross-town rival RIT 3-2 in non-league action on Tuesday evening at RIT's Clark Gymnasium.
 
The match was tight throughout, with RIT taking the first two sets 25-22, 25-22.  Rochester returned the favor with a 25-20 win in the third and edged out a 25-23 victory in the fourth, sending the match to a tie-breaking fifth set.  The race to 15 points wasn't enough though, as Rochester ended up needing extra points, earning 17-15 win to seal the match.
 
With the win, UR moves to 10-5 on the season while the Tigers drop to 9-6.
 
Rochester needed a big rally in the fourth set to force the tiebreaker, as Rochester was down 22-16 after RIT rattled off four straight points to get within striking distance of the match.  The Yellowjackets responded with eight straight points aided by three RIT errors and two kills from Beth Ghyzel to grab a 24-22 lead in the set.  After a service error pulled RIT within one, Ghyzel finished off the set with a kill.
 
In the fifth, Rochester again needed to rally, trailing 12-9, but got three straight points, coming on a kill from Alara Kocak, a Tiger attack error and a Melissa Welsh service ace to pull even.
 
After the teams traded the next pair of points to sit at 13-13, RIT's Shelby Doheny smacked a kill to give RIT a match point.  Kocak responded with a kill to tie it, then UR got a block from Kate Korslund and Tamera Shaw to get their own match point.
 
RIT answered back, with Joelle Marston's kill evening the score at 15-15, but another Ghyzel kill, followed by an RIT hitting error completed the Yellowjacket comeback.
 
It was a balanced effort for UR in the match with six players contributing at least four kills.  Kocak and Ghyzel led the way with 13 and 11 respectively, while Shaw, Allie DeRubertis and Korslund had five each.  Megan McHugh chipped in four.
 
Renae Lapins handed out 27 assists and had four digs while Ghyzel added 10 assists and had four blocks.  Rochester as a team had 11 blocks, with McHugh recording six, Shaw had five and Korslund four.  Courtney Vidovich recorded 17 digs while Sara Apanavicius had 10.
 
RIT's Marston led all players with 22 kills while teammate Taylor Higgins added 15, while Erin Parkinson finished with 49 assists.
 
The Yellowjackets now shift their focus to conference play, as UAA Round Robin #1 takes place this weekend at Case Western Reserve.  UR played nationally ranked Emory and Chicago squads on Saturday before squaring off with Brandeis on Sunday.