The University of Rochester volleyball team claimed two more wins on Saturday to finish the 2024 UR Volleyball Invitational with a perfect 3-0 record over the weekend at the Louis Alexander Palestra.
 
Rochester topped SUNY Brockport 3-1 in the early match and closed out competition with a 3-0 sweep over SUNY Geneseo. The two wins propel the Yellowjackets to 4-6 on the season.
 
In the opener, the Yellowjackets and Golden Eagles (4-4) battled tight in the opening three sets, with UR pulling away for a comfortable win in the fourth to put the match away. Overall, Rochester took a 25-23 set one, Brockport won 25-20 in set two, with UR needing extra points for a 26-24 win in the third. The closing set score was 25-17 in favor of Rochester.
 
After trailing in the early going in set one, Rochester scored five points in a row to surge in front 10-7. Ruby Moore and Rylee Bergeron had kills for the 'Jackets, with Katie Westerheim also chipping in an ace during the run.
 
The teams traded 3-point runs to reach 13-all before Brockport was able to build its biggest lead of the set, sitting up four at 19-15 following a block from Alenna Williamson and Lauren Emke.
 
Sitting down 21-17, Rochester finished the set strong, continuing a trend from Friday's opening night match. A kill from Bergeron and two Westerheim aces made the score 21-20 Brockport.
 
A Golden Eagle point put the visitors up two, but UR was able to score four straight points to steal the lead back. Moore and Ashley Cook had kills, with Bergeron added an ace to give UR a set point.
 
Brockport fended off one set point with another block at the net, but a kill from Bergeron ended the opening set in favor of the Yellowjackets.
 
In the second, Brockport was able to jump out to an early lead, up 6-1, and used the early advantage to propel to the 25-20 win, pulling even in the overall match.
 
The third set was tight throughout, with the Golden Eagles scoring four-of-five points midway through, breaking a 15-all tie. That moved the score to 19-16 Brockport, but the Yellowjackets quickly erased that deficit with two kills from Caroline Hoag and one from Alexia Nelms.
 
Brockport responded, eventually getting up 24-21, earning three set points, all of which Rochester fought off. Hoag smacked a kill to make it 24-22, an error by Brockport made it 24-23, and Bergeron provided another kill to send the set to extra points.
 
Back-to-back kills from Cook closed out the set in style for UR, with the 'Jackets posting a 26-24 win.
 
The key run in the fourth set was Rochester scoring four straight points to break an 8-8 tie. Brockport would not get any closer than three points down the rest of the way, as the Yellowjackets earned their second straight win over the Golden Eagles in the all-time series.
 
Bergeron led UR with 14 kills in the match, also securing a team-high 17 digs. Myla Nover-Estes added 11 kills on 24 swings, while Cook tallied 10 kills. Nelms had a solid overall game with 33 assists, 4 kills and 9 digs. Hoag added nine kills.
 
Brockport's leading attackers were Alexis Sison and Anna Cascapera who each had eight kills. Elsie Logan had 25 digs for the Golden Eagle defense, with Brockport finishing strong at the net with 14 total team blocks.
 
The second match of the day saw Rochester jump on Geneseo (2-8) early, with 25-13 and 25-14 wins in the opening two sets. The Knights fought hard in the third, but ultimately fell in a sweep to the Yellowjackets by a 26-24 score.
 
Rochester combined to hit a season-high .324 in the match, recording 48 kills to just 14 errors in 105 attempts. UR's best set was the second, with the team recording 16 kills and just two errors for a .424 percentage.
 
In the first, UR led throughout and finished off the set by scoring six of the final seven points. Two kills from Cook and a kill from Hoag ended the burst with the score 25-13 in favor of UR.
 
During set two, Rochester used a 7-point run to propel to the comfortable win. McKenzie McDonald provided two aces while two kills from Hoag and another from Cook added to the run.
 
Later on, Cook and Hoag again combined for back-to-back kills to move Rochester in front two sets to none.
 
Geneseo got some life early in the third set, vaulting out to a 6-0 lead in the set. Rochester followed by scoring four straight to get back into it, but the Knights quickly responded with a 4-point surge of their own to go up 10-4.
 
Rochester went on another run right after, scoring five straight, with two kills from Moore and another from Nover-Estes contributing.
 
The Knights got up by as many as five, leading 15-10, but the Yellowjackets continued to battle back, eventually tying the set up at 19-all following a Geneseo attack error.
 
Once again UR fended off a set point, as Geneseo took a 24-23 lead to the service line. A serve error tied up the score and Rochester fed off the momentum from that, getting a solo block from Hoag and a service ace from McDonald to end it.
 
Nover-Estes led UR with 11 kills, hitting .350 overall for the match. Hoag and Moore both hit .500, with Hoag ending at nine kills and Moore eight. Cook also hit double-digit kills, finishing with ten, while Bergeron chipped in nine in addition to 11 digs.
 
Nelms again was the primary setter and had 30 assists, 10 digs and 3 aces.
 
For their efforts over the two days, both Nelms and Bergeron were selected to the All-Tournament Team.
 
Up next for Rochester, will take on crosstown rival Nazareth University in a mid-week road matchup on Wednesday at 6 pm.