From University of Rochester Ahtletics
University of Rochester women's volleyball picked up another sweep, defeating crosstown-rival RIT, 3-0, in their final game of the 2023 UR Volleyball Invitational on Saturday inside the Louis Alexander Palestra.
With the win, Rochester moves to 5-1 on the year, while RIT drops to 3-4.
Macie Jolliffe got the match started with a kill, as RIT scored the first five points of the match. A kill from Sonia McGaffigan though, got UR on the scoreboard, and the Yellowjackets would make their way back, evening the first-set score at 7-7 on Areti Tsirikaki's kill.
Two more kills from Tsirikaki then pulled UR ahead, 10-8, before Katie Westerheim's service ace gave Rochester an 11-8 lead.
After Myla Nover-Estes won the serve back, Tsirikaki served up two more aces to make it a 14-9 UR lead and force RIT to take its first timeout of the set.
Down the stretch of the opening set, RIT would close the deficit to just three, 18-15, on Emelia Mislan's kill, but the Yellowjackets would answer with four of the next five points, the last two on back-to-back kills from Ruby Moore to take a 21-15 lead and force another RIT timeout.
A few points later, Moore's kill set up set point, before Tsirikaki finished off the set with an ace, giving UR a 25-18 set-one victory.
UR would take the early lead in set two, taking advantage of three straight Tiger errors. A service error gave RIT its first points of the set before a pair of aces gave RIT a 7-5 lead.
The Tigers would build their lead to 12-8, but out of a timeout, Rochester would regroup and rattle off five straight to take a 13-12 lead and force RIT to take a timeout of their own.
Moore kept things rolling out of the timeout with an ace, while Ashley Cook smashed kills to take it 16-14 and then 18-15 in favor of UR. The Tigers would come no closer than three the rest of the way, as Cook's kill and Moore's ace finished off the set, 25-18, and sent UR to the third set up 2-0.
The Yellowjackets then quickly got things rolling in the third set, leading by as many as seven in the early going as RIT was unable to break Katie Westerheim's serve. Back-to-back kills from Moore and Cook made it 6-1 UR, while Westerheim's ace out of the timeout made it 7-1.
UR kept things moving on Megan Cahall's serve, tallying another three points and forcing another RIT timeout, as the 'Jackets pulled away early in set three.
Rochester led by as many as 13 in the final set, before Nover-Estes set up match point with a kill, and then a bad set gave UR a 25-16 set-three win and a 3-0 match victory.
Cook tallied a game-high 14 kills, adding a team-high eight digs, while Moore notched 10 kills. Four different 'Jackets tallied multiple service aces, led by two from both Tsirikaki and Westerheim.
Westerheim also led UR with 15 assists, while Tsirikaki and Weeks each totaled five digs.
For their efforts across UR's three contests in the invitational, Cook and Moore were named to the All-Tournament Team. Cook led all players with a .381 hitting percentage, tallying 30 kills and just six errors, while Moore notched 33 kills, hitting .377.
Moore also added seven service aces, while Cook totaled 18 digs.