HENRIETTA, NY – In a wild back and forth affair, the University of Rochester volleyball team dropped a tough 3-2 decision to cross town rival RIT on Tuesday evening in RIT's Clark Gymnasium.
 
The first game was all Tigers (9-5), as the home RIT squad jumped out to early 5-0 and 10-1 leads before winning 25-12.
 
In game two, the teams battled to 6-6 before visiting UR (8-6) would run off seven straight points to grab a 13-6 lead on Nina Baek's serve.  After maintaining the seven point lead at 15-8, the Yellowjacket would go on another run, this time six straight points to move to 22-8 up before finishing off the set by a 25-16 score.
 

The third set saw RIT jump ahead early, leading 10-4 before Jennie Ford received serve and helped UR rattle off six straight to tie the score.  In the run, Ford provided two of her team leading three aces of the match.  The biggest lead the rest of the way was RIT getting up by four at 19-15, but the Yellowjacket ran off six of the next seven points to grab a 21-20 lead, eventually closing the set with a 26-24 win.
 
In the fourth set, neither team got ahead by more than four points the entire time with RIT earning the key run, grabbing seven of eight points to go from down two at 17-19 to up three at 23-20.  The Tigers would win the set by two and force the deciding fifth set.
 
There, the Tigers would get out to an early 4-1 lead and would maintain that cushion for the entirety of the set, emerging victorious with a 15-11 set win.
 
Leading the way for Rochester senior Jennie Ford who provided 12 kills, 16 digs and 3 aces.  Alexandra Nelligan added nine kills, hit .261 and added two blocks on the night.  Aimee Kohler dished out 29 assists and had 11 digs while Meghan Connor chipped in a team high 21 digs on the night.
 
RIT was led by Sarah Szybist who led all players with 23 kills in the five set affair.  Szybist also led RIT with 16 digs while teammate Erin Parkinson handed out 43 assists.
 
Rochester's next match is scheduled for Friday, a home contest against Cazenovia College before heading out for two matches on Saturday at SUNY Canton against the host Roos and St. Lawrence.