The University of Rhode Island’s women’s volleyball team was defeated in all three Atlantic 10 Conference matchups this past week, getting swept in a two-game series against Davidson College over the weekend, then dropping a match against Fordham University on Wednesday.
After dropping its first two A-10 matchups against George Washington, URI was looking to get in the win column on Friday night against Davidson College. In the first game, the Wildcats came out firing in the first set and jumped out to a 14-8 lead. However, the Rams rallied back to make it 19-19. After Davidson retook the lead 24-21, Rhode Island won three straight set points to tie the score at 24. The comeback effort by URI came up short, though, as Davidson took three out of the next four points to win the first set 27-25.
After a tightly contested first set, URI came out much stronger in the second set and avoided falling behind early. URI held on to a 21-20 lead late and scored four straight points, capped off with an ace by third-year Chloe Abuto to even things at one set apiece.
The trend of a back-and-forth match continued in the third set. With the score tied at 17, Davidson went on a four-point run to make it 21-17. URI responded with a four-point run of its own to knot things up at 21. After alternating points back-and-forth to make the score 24-24, Davidson scored two straight points to pull out another narrow victory and take a 2-1 set lead.
In the fourth set, with its back against the wall, URI came out firing and jumped out to a commanding 17-7 lead. Second-year Havyn Rolle came up big for Rhody in the fourth set with five kills. Fourth-year Aerin Bowman also contributed with three kills. URI took the fourth set 25-18 to force a winner-take-all fifth set.
Rhode Island held a 4-1 lead early in the fifth set thanks to three Davidson errors, but the Wildcats clawed back into it, taking five out of the next six points to make it 6-5. Davidson gradually built its lead up to 14-10, and suddenly URI was down to its last point. However, Rhody reeled off three straight points to make the score 14-13. It looked like a URI comeback was in the works, but second-year Meile Songaila put the nail in the coffin with a kill to give Davidson the win.
“We knew that we should’ve won that match,” URI Head Coach Ryan Sullivan said following Friday’s match. “We left it out on the table; we’re supremely confident [that] we’re going to come back tomorrow and beat them in three.”
URI was looking to avenge its loss with a chance to split the series on Saturday. In the first set, URI was knocking on the door of going up 1-0 with a 24-20 point lead. However, Davidson scored six straight points to win the first set 26-24. The next set was also competitive, with URI holding onto a 19-18 lead, but Davidson pulled away late to win by a score of 25-20. The third set was less competitive; Davidson had a 16-8 lead early and never looked back as it cruised to a 25-16 victory to pick up a three-set win to sweep the match and the series over URI.
“I think the A-10 is a very tough conference,” fourth-year defensive specialist Ryleigh Powers said. “Points matter; it comes down to that. In our team huddles, we say we’re going to prove to the A-10, and we’re going to prove to people, and I think that we’re starting to make that name for ourselves.”
Rhode Island had another opportunity to pick up its first conference win, taking on Fordham on Wednesday night.
URI dropped the first set 25-18, then kept the second set close but ended up falling by a score of 25-23. Rhode Island won a back-and-forth third set 28-26 to avoid being swept. However, Fordham took the fourth set to pick up its first A-10 win of the season and defeat URI 3-1.
With the losses, Rhode Island dropped to 3-14 on the season and 0-5 in conference play. The Rams return to Keaney Gymnasium on Saturday, as they will continue to search for their first conference win as they take on Virginia Commonwealth University for a two-game series over the weekend. Sunday’s game will be available to stream on ESPN+.
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