ITHACA, NY – University of Rochester women's volleyball fell to the Middlebury College Panthers, 3-0, in their final game of the Bomber Invitational on Saturday afternoon inside Ben Light Gymnasium.
 
Rylee Bergeron got the Yellowjackets started in the opening set with a kill, as the two sides traded leads through much of the early going. UR and Middlebury stood tied at 4-4 and 8-8 in the first set before the Panthers opened up a three-point lead on Gabbie O'Toole's serve.
 
Kills by Lauren Baxter and Molly Harrison and O'Toole's ace gave Middlebury a 12-9 advantage. But Rochester would battle back with back-to-back kills from Myla Nover-Estes and Bergeron, pulling within one, later knotting the score at 14-all on Lydia Week's ace.
 
Following another kill and attack error, the two sides again stood tied at 15, but the Panthers responded with a six-point rally to open up a 22-15 lead, eventually pulling away with a 25-18 set victory.
 
Rochester once again scored the opening point of the second set, but Middlebury quickly pulled ahead and pulled away. Ava Tuccio answered UR's opening point with a kill, while a block by Tuccio and Harrison gave the Panthers a lead they'd never relinquish.
 
The 'Jackets kept things close early, trailing by just two after Caroline Hoag's kill from Alexia Nelms, and just three after Lilly Kraemer earned a kill off Iliana Balaskas' assist. But up 10-7, the Panthers scored three straight and eight of the next nine points to press their advantage.
 
UR took a timeout down 16-8, but the Panthers kept on rolling despite a block from Ruby Moore and Nover-Estes just two points later. Middlebury finished off the set with five-straight points and seven of the last eight, taking the second set, 25-10, to take a 2-0 match lead.
 
The Panthers then rolled into the final set, looking to finish off the sweep, and quickly opened up a 6-0 lead. But the Yellowjackets battled back, pulling within three on Balaskas' service ace, 9-6. Middlebury answered with the next two points, but Rochester rallied for four, three of which came on Cook's serve.
 
Kills from Cook and Bergeron made it a three-point game, while Cook's service ace and an attack error cut the Panthers' lead down to just one. However, Middlebury responded with a run of their own, pulling ahead, 17-11, on a 6-1 run highlighted by two kills from Lauren Baxter, and would keep UR at bay the rest of the way.
 
The Yellowjackets got no closer than four over the final eight points for Middlebury, as Baxter finished things off with two kills to give the Panthers a 3-0 victory.
 
Rochester falls to 1-6 with the loss, while Middlebury moves to 1-2 with the win. As a team, UR hit just  0.019, tallying 33.0 kills, while the Panthers hit .255 and notched 52.0 kills.
 
Individually, Bergeron tallied a team-high nine kills, adding eight digs, while Nelms had a team-best 14 assists. Defensively, Weeks led UR with 11 digs, while Cook totaled nine.
 
The Yellowjackets next host John Carroll on Friday, Sept. 13 in their opening match of the 2024 UR Invitational inside the Louis Alexander Palestra.