Ithaca, NY – Block assists from RIT's Kelly Waters and Katie Hobler ended the longest running streak of conference titles in Liberty League history as the Clarkson University Volleyball team saw its run of six straight league championships come to an end in a four-set defeat against the Tigers, 25-22, 13-25, 25-23, 25-19 on Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Knights dropped to 17-11 overall and will have to await the NCAA Tournament committee's at-large choices to see if they will gain admittance to a 10th straight NCAA Tournament. RIT moved to 28-4 and earned the league's automatic bid.

Set one showcased RIT's strong offense as the Tigers hit .318 with 18 kills against just four errors in 44 swings. The Tigers led by two after 10 points (6-4), but rattled off four straight and nine of the next 12 to more than double up Clarkson (15-7). The Golden Knights slowly came back, eventually getting to within two at 18-16 after a Meghan Edmund ace. Clarkson pulled to within one on two occasions late in the set, but Kelly Waters recorded her seventh kill of the set and a Clarkson attack error allowed RIT to hold 25-22.

In set number two, Clarkson found a groove on offense, making just two errors and striking 15 kills over the course of a dominant game. The two teams were knotted up at 5-5, but Clarkson scored 14 of the next 15 points, including a run of 10 straight that was a showcase for Gillian Kurtic, who recorded five kills and a solo block in that run. From that point, it was just a matter of time before Clarkson closed out the game, which they did on yet another Kurtic kills. Clarkson hit .351 in the set (15-2-37), while the Tigers saw their output drop in half from the first game (9-5-38, .105).

Unlike the first two sets, the third game was close throughout, though Clarkson edged out to a 13-8 lead when Rachel Reusch produced a kill for a small 3-0 run. The Tigers recovered, however, changing a three-point deficit (19-16) into a one-point lead (20-19) with four straight points, three coming on Clarkson miscues. The two teams would tie at 20, 21, 22, and 23, but RIT scored two straight when it needed them, closing out the set 25-23.

In the fourth, the Golden Knights and Tigers were tied 10 times, with the final occurrence at 15-15. From there, Clarkson had trouble on offense as the team committed five attack errors in the final 11 points of the match, though three came against RIT's block.

Rachel Reusch finished the match with 17 kills and Gillian Kurtic added 11 kills and three total blocks. Maddie Bredehoeft was two kills short of a double-double on eight kills and 15 digs. Amanda Collins notched 39 assists and Savannah Peters had four total blocks, including two solo efforts. Kate Isaksen led the team with 24 digs and Kendall Cheval produced 17 digs. Isaksen surpassed 900 digs on the season (901), marking just the seventh time in the last 11 years that an NCAA Division III player hit 900 digs, and the the she was the first to do so since 2010.

For RIT, Katie Hobler scored 19 kills and 12 digs and Kelly Waters added 13 kills and four blocks. Taylor Higgins also recorded 12 kills and 18 digs. Erin Parkinson ran the offense with 44 assists and 16 digs and Maria Simonetti picked up 17 digs from the back row.