TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology volleyball team split a pair of matches on Friday night in the opening day of the Rose-Hulman Invitational.
The Fightin' Engineers won their first match of the evening against Monmouth (Ill.), defeating the Fighting Scots in straight sets by scores of 25-18, 25-16, and 25-23. Junior Bailey MacInnis led the Rose-Hulman offense with 12 kills. Junior Marissa Gollnick recorded 22 assists and 12 digs in the match. Senior Gabi Razma also registered 18 digs in the win over the Fighting Scots. Sophomore Katie Orbeta chipped in 11 assists, and sophomore Adekite Oladipupo recorded 13 digs.
In match two of the evening, the Fightin' Engineers dropped a hard-fought, fifth-set thriller to William Woods. Rose-Hulman won the first two sets of the match 25-21 and 27-25, but the Owls rallied to claim the final three sets of the match by scores of 25-12, 25-9, and 15-8. Gollnick had another strong performance in game two, collecting 23 assists and six digs. Razma led the Fightin' Engineers with 23 digs. Offensively, RHIT was led by Oladipupo's 13 kills, 19 digs, and MacInnis' 10 kills. Orbeta registered 20 assists in the contest.
The split moves Rose-Hulman's record to 4-2. The Fightin' Engineers will be back in action tomorrow for the concluding day of the Rose-Hulman Invitational. Rose will play North Central at 11 AM, and will Illinois College at 1 PM in Hulbert Arena.
