The University of Rhode Island hosted both St. Louis and Dayton this past weekend. The Rams entered the match 8-8 on the year going 3-2 in Atlantic 10 play so far this season.
St. Louis came into Friday night’s match with a 6-11 overall record and strong record in Atlantic 10 games at 3-1.
The first set of the match came down to the wire with URI taking it by a score of 25-23. St. Louis would comeback to take the next three sets 25-19, 25-18, and 25-20 to win the match three sets to one. In the final set, URI came back from 4-1 down to take an 9-8 lead, but at a 17-17 tie, St. Louis took the next four to seal the victory.
“I thought we played fine and we are searching for consistency for every match,” Ram’s head coach Steve Santonastaso said after the loss to St. Louis.
Senior Jessie Blaze had another strong performance as she finished with 11 digs notching her 11th straight game with double digit digs.
Looking to bounce back from their Friday night loss, URI took the court on Saturday to take on the three time defending A-10 champion, the Dayton Flyers. The Flyers entered the match 12-6 overall and 5-0 in A-10.The Flyers would continue their A-10 dominance as they took the match in straight sets winning 25-13, 26-16 and 25-21.
The first set started with a 4-4 tie, but the Flyers would go onto take 11 of the next 12 points to build a 15-5 lead, never looking back and going on to take the set 25-13.
Looking to tie the match, Rhody came out in the second set and took a 6-4 lead, but another Fyler run gave them the 12-7 lead. Dayton pushed the lead to 21-13 and finished it out with a 25-16 win.
After halftime URI was looking to overcome a two set to none deficit. The Rams came back to tie it up at five a piece and went back and forth until Dayton pushed the lead to 21-17. The Flyers were able to hold off URI and secure a 25-21 win and notch their sixth conference win on the year.
Freshman Live Lunde Fossdal led the Rams with seven kills, while adding five digs and three blocks. Senior Jessie Blaze finished the game with 13 digs, making it the 12th consecutive game she has recorded double digit digs.
“We have high quality and high character people and sometimes matches don’t fall your way,” Santonastaso said after Saturday’s loss. “We have to continue to develop and get better.”
The Rams will travel to travel to Duquesne next Friday looking to get back on track.