Vanessa Latam, Araiza Acum-Santos, and Sofia Velasquez all tied for the team lead in kills with nine, as the St. Lawrence University volleyball team pulled off a four-set win over RIT Friday night, kicking off their conference play with a victory in Rochester, N.Y.

The win over RIT adds to their consecutive triumphs over SUNY Canton, SUNY Potsdam, VTSU Castleton, and Hunter College, helping them to a record of 10-4 and a conference mark of 1-0.

"We were slow out of the gates, but when it mattered the most, we found a way to get it done," said Saints head coach Shelly Roiger. "I am very proud of the team for their finish to the third set. That, to me, was the deciding moment of the match. To earn the 27-25 finish and then start set four out strong was a key to the victory."

The opening set saw the two teams trade points early on. Midway through the set, the score was tied 8-8. That's when the Tigers rattled off seven of the set's next nine points to open up a 15-10 lead on the Saints. The Tigers kept a similar lead until they posted a 4-0 run right at the end of the set to go up 1-0 on home court.

That was the only set St. Lawrence dropped in the contest, as they rebounded nicely to tie the match 1-1 in the second. They traded point runs early and stuck with each other, with the Saints maintaining a narrow lead. The Tigers then had eight of 11 points to go up 18-16 in the late portions, forcing the Saints to execute. The Scarlet and Brown later took the lead back 21-20 on an attack error, then kills from Adeline Riesenberger and Vanessa Latam helped them to the scrappy set win.

In the third set, St. Lawrence opened up an 18-11 lead, dominating offensively early on in the frame. However, the Tigers staged a rally to come back in the set and keep the margins razor thin late, forcing extra points at 25-25. Acum-Santos had two clutch kills back-to-back to put the Saints up 2-1.

St. Lawrence led wire-to-wire in the fourth set to seal the victory. RIT was able to keep the score close, making it 20-18 late in the frame, but the last five points of the set went to the Saints, with the help of a few Tigers attack errors and two Bridget Gammons kills.

In the evenly matched game, St. Lawrence ended the contest with 46 kills to RIT's 45. At the net, the Tigers had the advantage, posting seven blocks to the Saints' three. The Saints had a slightly more efficient attack, with a percentage of .188, compared with .163 for RIT.

St. Lawrence now heads to arguably their biggest test of the season in their second Liberty League contest, as they get set to visit William Smith. The Herons enter the game with a 11-1 record, having swept Clarkson 3-0 Friday evening.