Fresh off of their first consecutive wins in 2023, the University of Rhode Island women’s volleyball team welcomed George Mason University to Keaney Gym to open Atlantic 10 conference play over the weekend.
Despite a team-high 29 combined kills by former A-10 Rookie of the Week Madi Disu, who registered her third and fourth-straight matches in double-digits, the Rams were unable to overtake the Patriots at home, dropping a pair of tightly-contested matches in four sets.
The visitors came out flying in the first set of Friday’s conference opener, taking advantage of a pair of two separate 7-0 runs to keep their distance from the Rams. After knotting the score at 6-6 early on, the Rams managed to land only five of their 22 kill attempts as Geroge Mason took the lead and never looked back, taking the 1-0 advantage in a lopsided 24-13 opening set.
Rhode Island was able to find their groove in the second set, keeping George Mason close the whole way in a back-and-forth set that featured nine separate ties. The Rams eventually rallied late to take their largest lead of the set, 17-14, but despite a trio of kills and a service ace from Disu to keep it within two points, the visitors were eventually able to rebound and fight their way back to a 25-23 win.
Stuck in a two-set hole, the Rams refused to go down without a fight. In yet another closely-contested set that never saw the two teams separated by more than three points, the Rams and the Patriots eventually found themselves locked at 20-20. Putting up a match-best five total blocks in the set, third-year Samantha Blahut and second-year Aerin Bowman eventually combined for the first of two-straight blocks to give the Rams set point, before a George Mason error eventually sent the match into a fourth set.
From here, George Mason were able to find the momentum that saw them coast through the first set, allowing Rhode Island only four kills and a -.059 hitting percentage through the final set. After taking an early 10-4 lead, The Patriots gave the Rams no room to breathe, eventually putting the set out of reach with a 6-0 run to cap off a decisive 25-10 win to seal the match. The loss broke a streak of three-straight wins for the Rams that closed out their non-conference slate.
The Rams and the Patriots returned to Keaney less than 24 hours later to do battle once again, and Saturday’s match was much of the same story for the two sides. It was once again the visitors who came out on the front foot early, tallying four of their season-high 18 service aces along with 15 kills in the first set to take an early lead, while limiting Rhode Island to only seven kills of their own. Despite trading points early and eventually knotting the set at 13, Rhode Island fell behind and was able to come within as little as one point of the Patriots before a 9-2 run saw them take the opening set for the second-straight match, 25-17.
Similar to Friday’s contest, the Rams were able to rebound in the second set, winning seven of the first nine points to take an early 7-2 lead. Despite the Patriots coming back to tie the set at 12-12, the Rams quickly went on to retake a six-point lead at 19-13, one from which they never looked back. Flourishing on top of five kills from both Disu and Blahut along with a pair of service aces from first-year Emma Vente, the Rams went on to seal the second set 25-19 and tie the match at 1-1.
Through the majority of the third set, there was not much to separate the two squads in a battle that once again featured nine ties and three separate lead changes. Down by as much as four through the set, the Rams would battle back on two separate occasions to eventually give themselves two set points at 24-23 and 25-24. However, a pair of errors cost the Rams the deciding points, allowing George Mason’s Chelsea Cotter two vital blocks to take the final three points of the set and win a nailbiter in extra points, 27-25.
“In that set I think we missed like, at least four serves, and that’s like [the] game right there,” third-year libero Hannah Blaney said after the match. “[We can improve on] not digging ourselves into a hole, letting us win our points, and not just giving them free points.”
After an early battle in the fourth saw the two teams locked at eight, the Patriots looked to have the match all but wrapped up after going on a 9-1 run to take an 18-9 lead. Refusing to go down easily, the Rams continued to fight, even stringing together a 7-2 run to bring the deficit back to 20-16. However, the effort proved to be too little too late as Ewelina Gacek eventually nailed her career-best seventh service ace of the day, and GMU’s record-setting 18th of the night, to seal the win for the visitors.
Despite the loss, URI head coach Angel Agu had plenty of positives to take from the match as the team gears up to get into the thick of conference play.
“I’m really proud of this team, and every match we still learn something valuable about things we need to get better at,” Agu said. “We had a great blocking game at the net, I think Hannah Blaney did a great job of defending around that block. We continue to learn…We’re trending in the right direction, we just have to fine-tune a few things.”
Next up, the Rams hit the road for three straight matches, set to continue conference play against George Washington at 2 p.m. on Saturday.