The University of Rhode Island women’s volleyball team dropped a pair of matches over the weekend against Loyola University Chicago to fall to 5-23 on the season.
After taking down George Mason University in four sets in its last game on Nov. 2, Rhode Island was looking for back-to-back conference wins for the first time this season. In the opening set of the first game on Friday night, Rhode Island and Loyola went back and forth. The teams couldn’t be separated by more than two points for the majority of the set. However, Loyola pulled away late to win the first set 25-20 and take the early 1-0 lead.
In the second set, it was all Ramblers. Rhode Island only tallied one kill in the set, and Loyola dominated to win the second set 25-10 and take a 2-0 lead.
With their backs against the wall and in danger of being swept, Rhody responded with a stronger start. With the score tied 10-10, URI went on a 7-1 run to take a commanding lead and went on to take set three 25-23. Fourth-year right side hitter Aerin Bowman was a big contributor in the third set, with five kills, and three of them came during the 7-1 run.
However, URI couldn’t carry the momentum into the fourth set. The Ramblers took the first five points of the set and never looked back, winning the set 25-11 to secure a four-set win.
URI looked to avoid the series sweep and come away with a split in the second game. Similar to the opening set in game one, Loyola and Rhode Island were in a tightly contested battle early. But with the score tied 15-15, the Ramblers put the Rams away with a 10-5 run to take the first set 25-20.
“We had a lot of ups and downs,” third-year middle blocker Chloe Abuto said. “We missed the mark on learning how to respond at certain times.”
The next two sets were dominated by Loyola. The Ramblers rattled off 17 kills in the second set and had zero errors to take set two 25-13. The third set had 11 ties, but Loyola once again closed the game out like it had all weekend long. The Ramblers took set three 25-20 to earn the sweep in both the match and the series.
“It was a tough weekend,” URI Head Coach Ryan Sullivan said. “We had to deliver some harsh truths in the locker room to our players.”
URI will wrap up its 2025 season when it hosts the University of Dayton for a two-game series this weekend at Keaney Gymnasium. Rhody will be trying to spoil Dayton’s attempt at going undefeated in conference play for the third straight season. The last time the Flyers lost an Atlantic 10 Conference game in the regular season was Nov. 5, 2023, when they lost to Loyola Chicago in four sets.
Dayton has a record of 33-1 against Rhode Island all time and is on an 18-match win streak. The last and only time URI has beaten Dayton was Oct. 12, 2013.
“The message is just why not us,” Sullivan said. “We’re looking at this weekend as two Super Bowl opportunities.”
Out of the 348 Division I women’s volleyball programs, Rhode Island is ranked 304th and Dayton is ranked 43rd. If Rhode Island comes away with a win in one of the games, it would be the biggest upset in Division I volleyball during the 2025 season per the difference in rankings. The first game of the series is on Friday, with the second game of the series and the final game of Rhode Island’s season coming on Saturday.
