Everyone at some point in their life experiences change, and University of Rhode Island third-year outside hitter Aerin Bowman has seen more than her fair share of change throughout her collegiate volleyball career.
Bowman was born in Darien, Connecticut, where she attended Darien High School. There, she was coached by Laurie Laruso, who is a Connecticut Volleyball Hall of Fame and Connecticut High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee .
Larusso was the head coach of the Blue Wave for 42 seasons, during which she won 19 state championships and finished with an 800-131 record before stepping down in May 2024.
“I loved playing under Laurie Larusso,” Bowman said. “She has always been a great head coach, she has a lot of accolades and she’s kind of a legend in Darien…she just took the time to teach me everything about volleyball and I’m still so grateful to have been coached by her.”
Bowman was twice named an All-State honoree in Connecticut, along with being named to the All-Region team twice and also being named All-Conference twice.
During high school, Bowman was also named to the 2021 Amature Atheletic Union All-Tournament team and the USA Volleyball Nationals All-Tournament team.
Her senior year at Darien, Bowman committed to Virginia Tech University and played her first collegiate season there in 2022. Bowman played in only five matches and appeared in 13 sets, in which she recorded 13 kills, 4 digs and 6 blocks.
“I loved it,” Bowman said. “I loved the team, we were a really big team of 22 girls. It was a great school. I loved the school, it just wasn’t the right place for me.”
After her first year, Bowman decided to enter the transfer portal and ended up at URI. In her first season as a Ram in 2023, she took on a much bigger role than when she was at Virginia Tech. She played in 26 matches, appeared in 91 sets, recorded 148 kills, 63 blocks and 28 digs.
Despite Bowman seeing increased playing time and having an improved season, URI struggled as a team; it finished with a record of 4-26 and 1-17 in conference play. After the season, URI Head Coach Angel Agu stepped down.
On July 1, 2024, Ryan Sullivan was named the new head coach of the team. This was now Bowman’s third head coach in her three years of playing collegiate volleyball.
“It’s nothing new,” Bowman said. “I’ve had a bunch of different coaches over the years and obviously transferring I’m kind of used to the turnover. I think it’s been a bit of an adjustment but it was fine the whole team went through it together.”
Bowman’s numbers saw a jump from her second-year season – she played in 103 sets, was third on the team with 185 kills and was also third with 83 blocks. URI also improved, finishing with a 9-22 record and going 4-14 in conference play, and tallying over 200 more kills than the 2023 season finishing with 1242 on the year along without-performing its expectations in the preseason poll.
Both Bowman and the rest of Sullivan’s squad will be hoping for their best season to come next fall. The team will be looking to build off a 2024 season that was a huge step in the right direction for the program.
For Bowman, her numbers have climbed in every season she has played and she will be looking to keep that trend going for her fourth year.