Box | Updated stats | Nazareth post-match news conference
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Second-seeded RIT made quick work of Nazareth Friday in an opening-round volleyball match at the NCAA Tournament hosted by Ithaca. The Tigers defeated the Golden Flyers in three sets to advance to Saturday's regional semifinal. Scores were 25-11, 25-23, 25-12.

The Tigers improved to 29-4 overall after defeating the Golden Flyers for the second time this season. Nazareth finishes its 2018 season at 23-13 overall. RIT will play again Saturday against the winner of the Morrisville-Carnegie Mellon match.

The Tigers got 23 kills from freshman outside hitter Katie Hobler, who had just three hitting errors on 39 swings for a tidy .513 hitting percentage. "We had no answer for her," said Nazareth Coach Cal Wickens. "Those are championship numbers."

As a result, the Tigers never trailed in any of the three sets as they hit .402 (48-9-97) as a team, compared to .154 (31-15-104) for Nazareth. Melissa Newcomb and Carmen Sapp each had seven kills for Nazareth and Kelsey Milligan had six.

Nine of Hobler's kills came in the opening set as the Tigers jumped out to an early lead. It was 10-4 when Nazareth called its first timeout and the Tigers' lead continued to grow.

Nazareth hung tough in the second set as Milligan had four kills and Madison Joseph added three. RIT called timeout after Nazareth drew to within 22-20. Then a kill by Milligan made it 22-21. After RIT pulled away again, a kill by Sapp closed the gap again to 24-23 before a Nazareth attacking error turned the set over to the Tigers.

RIT opened an 11-2 lead in the third set and was never seriously challenged as Hobler produced six more kills. RIT setter Erin Parkinson added 40 assists and libero Maria Simonetti had 14 digs.

Nazareth received 21 assists from setter Jessica Barry and nine digs from Celia Cordero.

"I feel that it was a good ending to our season," said Nazareth's Madison Joseph. "Obviously today didn't go the way we wanted, but we were happy with the way we got here."

The Golden Flyers gained an automatic bid to the NCAAs by defeating St. John Fisher and Stevens in successive matches last weekend to win the Empire 8 Conference title for the first time since 2013.