The University of Rhode Island volleyball team hosted George Washington University for its last home series of the regular season over the weekend, where the two teams split the series.
Rhode Island came into Friday night with a record of 8-19, and 3-11 in Atlantic 10 play, and had its sights set on getting back to the A-10 tournament for the first time since the shortened 2020 season.
The Rams jumped out to an early 10-2 lead in the first set of Friday’s match, and later pushed the lead to 21-11. Although the Revolutionaries would go on a 10-0 run to tie the game at 21, URI was able to hold off the late surge by winning the next four points to take the first set 25-21.
“We’ve been talking about the runs,” URI Head Coach Ryan Sullivan said. “We play well in matches but our biggest Achilles’ heel has been runs from the other team. A big focus this week in practice has been stopping those runs.”
In the second set, Sullivan’s squad found themselves trailing 11-5, but Rhody rallied back to tie things up at 16. In a back-and-forth set down the stretch, URI came out on top 25-23. Third-year right side Aerin Bowman got the match-winning kill to put the Rams up by two sets.
Late in the third set, Rhode Island and George Washington were tied at 17, but URI couldn’t put the Revolutionaries away as they went on a run late to win the third set 25-18.
In the fourth set, URI fought to a 18-11 lead, but George Washington went on another run to tie it at 19-19. The Rams would close out the set by taking six out of the next nine points to win the match. First-year middle blocker Havyn Rolle tied her career high in kills with 16 and second-year outside hitter Madi Disu led the team in both digs (11) and service aces (6).
“We weren’t afraid to talk about it,” Sullivan said. “We knew after some of the bad losses we had, we have to win the next four matches. We’re not gonna win all four matches in one point, we want to win set by set, stop runs as they come and put points on the board. That third set could’ve been deflating for us earlier in the year, but we’re peaking at the right time.”
Saturday was Senior Day for the Rams, who held a pregame ceremony honoring the three fourth-years on the team: Andrea Owens, Edie Lamoreaux and Katie Butler. However, after the first set there wasn’t much to celebrate, as George Washington picked up a 25-21 win and Rhode Island, who leads the A-10 in blocks, didn’t record one for the whole set.
In a competitive second set, the Revolutionaries led 20-18, but Rhody failed to complete the comeback and lost 25-20, putting itself in danger of getting swept.
Rhode Island wouldn’t be put away easily in the third set, which featured seven ties and four lead changes. Down 21-20, the Rams needed a late run to avoid being swept, but it was the Revolutionaries who would go on the run to win the set. The visitors earned the next four points to win the third set 25-20, securing the sweep over Rhode Island.
“We won Friday and we were really high in our spirits,” Bowman said. “And we just came into Saturday thinking they’re still not going to be as good. They made a lot of mistakes Friday. I think we took too long to realize we have to play to our standards and I don’t think we did.”
Rhode Island will wrap up their regular season with a trip to Davidson College on Nov. 15 and Nov. 16. There is still a scenario where the Rams are one of the six teams in the A-10 tournament.
To have a chance to qualify, URI will need to win both games against Davidson. URI will also need Saint Louis University to lose both games to the University of Dayton while Duquesne University and George Mason University split their series.
Rhode Island will enter the final weekend of the regular season on a mission to prove the preseason poll wrong, as it was picked to finish last in the A-10. They are currently in ninth place, only ahead of Fordham University.
The final series of the Rams regular season is available to stream on ESPN+, with the first match on Friday set for 6 p.m.