ROCHESTER, NY —The Buffalo State volleyball team earned a five-set victory over R.I.T. in its season opener on Friday night at the Rochester Invitational.  
 
THE BASICS 
FINAL SCORE: Buffalo State - 3, R.I.T. - 2 
SET SCORES: 25-16, 21-25, 25-17, 16-25, 15-5 
LOCATION: Louis Alexander Palestra – Rochester, NY 
RECORDS: Buffalo State (1-0), R.I.T. (0-1) 

INSIDE THE BENGAL BOX SCORE 

• Samantha Coakley (Lockport, NY/Lockport) led the Bengals with 11 kills and six aces. 
• Liz Schultheis (Holley, NY/Brockport) added nine kills and three blocks.  
• Angelina Scichilone (Holtsville, NY/Sachem East) led Buffalo State with 12 digs while Jenna Hugenschmidt (Clarence Center, NY/Clarence) had 10 digs.  
• Eden Harrison (Eldersburg, MD/Century) had nine kills and two blocks. 

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• Down 14-11 in the first set, the Bengals won 14 of the final 16 points to take the set.
• The Tigers used a nine-point run in the second set to turn around a 20-14 deficit on the way to evening the set scores at one each. 
• Two separate five-point runs that included a pair of aces each from Riley Domin (Getzville, NY/Williamsville South) and Karlie Shaffer (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown East) helped Buffalo State take the third set, 25-17. 
• The Tigers took the fourth set 25-16 to force a decisive fifth set.
• Harrison opened up the fifth set with back-to-back kills, and Buffalo State cruised to a 15-5 victory, capped by a kill and service ace by Schultheis to win the match.  

 
FOR THE FOES 

• Liv Bernard had 13 kills and 15 digs for R.I.T. 
• Jessica Klein chipped in 15 digs for the Tigers.

UP NEXT
The Bengals will continue play at the Rochester Invitational tomorrow, taking on host Rochester at 11 a.m. and Penn State Behrend at 1 p.m.