MEADVILLE, Pa. -- Fredonia State fell twice more Saturday on the second day of the Allegheny College invitational. The Blue Devils (3-8) lost to the host Gators, 3-0, in the morning match. RIT then claimed a 3-0 win over Fredonia State in the afternoon.
The Blue Devils are back in action Tuesday at University of Pittsford-Bradford.
Here's a look at each of the Saturday matches:
Allegheny 25-25-25, Fredonia State 20-20-7
The Blue Devils were unable to sustain a promising start in the first set. They built a 6-2 lead with a string of five straight points, including consecutive kills by Kylie O'Brien, Erin Callahan, and Bella Maloney. Molly Cassidy collected assists on all three points – she finished with a team-high 13 assists – while O'Brien and Callahan combined on a block resulting in the fifth point of the run.
Both the second and third sets had similar starts, to a lesser degree. A kill by Maloney gave the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead – their only advantage of set two – before Allegheny rallied and gradually pulled away. Two Allegheny errors and a kill by Logann Lexner put the Blue Devils up 3-1 in set three. The Gators strung together three lengthy runs to finish the match.
O'Brien led Fredonia State hitters with nine kills. Callahan (4 blocks) and Maeve Musielak (16 digs) were the top defenders.
RIT 25-25-25, Fredonia State 18-14-22
The teams traded small leads in the early part of the first set. Olivia Boswell set up Emma Foley for a kill to forge a 5-5 tie for the Devils. RIT rattled off five straight points and held no less than a two-point advantage the rest of the set.
The Blue Devils took a 2-0 lead in the second set on service aces by Sasha Zayatz. The teams alternated 20 of the next 24 points. That back-and-forth stretch included a kill by Maloney off a pass by Cassidy to produce the final tie of the set at 13-13.
The Blue Devils rallied from an early deficit to take an 8-7 lead in set three. Boswell set up O'Brien to start a three-point run, followed by a service ace by Kailea Sullivan, and an RIT error. The Tigers took command with a 9-1 run. The Blue Devils had an 8-2 run later in the set.
The Fredonia State offense was led by O'Brien with 10 kills and a .241 hitting percentage, and Cassidy with 14 assists and just one passing error. Defensively, Callahan and Cayla Partsch had two blocks each, while Musielak and Zayatz had 11 and 10 digs, respectively.
