The University of Rhode Island women’s volleyball team is still in search of its first Atlantic 10 Conference win after dropping five conference matches.
Since starting conference play on Sept. 25 against George Mason University, the Rams have won just one set across those five matches.
On Saturday, Rhody’s offense struggled to get going in the first set, hitting -.086 at the net. On top of the 10 attack errors from the Rams, Loyola Chicago’s defense produced four blocks, along with 13 kills from their offense, to win the set 25-19.
URI kept the second set close early, forcing five ties with the team separated by one point on 14 different occasions. Second-year middle blocker Hannah Jonick kept it within one point with a kill to make the score 20-19, but a 5-1 run by the Ramblers, led by second-year outside hitter Leyna Nguyen, allowed Loyola Chicago to win, 25-20.
Rhody attacked more efficiently in the third set, collecting 14 kills on just three errors. However, Loyola Chicago’s third-year middle blocker Chloe Morgan and Nguyen combined for 11 kills as the Ramblers recorded 17 kills on three errors total, outperforming URI offensively to close out the set and win the match, 3-0.
The second match of the series started better for URI, keeping the score tied at 5-5 early. Nonetheless, the Ramblers hit .448 as a team that produced a 15-5 run to pull away from URI, and Loyola Chicago took the set, 25-14.
Rhody’s offense in the second set was led by first-year outside hitter Cara Richter, who recorded five kills with just one error in 10 attacks. However, the rest of the team combined for eight errors with just four kills, while Loyola Chicago had three aces and was efficient on both sides of the ball, and the Ramblers went on to win set two, 25-17.
Rhode Island led by three points to start the third set, 9-6, but surrendered a 6-0 run, followed by a 3-0 run shortly after to put the Rams down 15-10 at the timeout. URI cut the lead to within three points in the back half of the set, but the Ramblers’ defense held up to close out the match, 3-0.
“We’re a young team,” Rhode Island head coach Ryan Sullivan said. “Loyola [Chicago] is pretty established, and they’ve made the tournament the last two years, so it was a good learning experience for our team. They really put some pressure offensively against us, and I didn’t think our defense matched it.”
The midweek match against Fordham ended in a similar fashion for Rhode Island.
The first set started close, with the score remaining within two points for the early portion of the set. However, a 3-0 run midway through the set gave Fordham a 17-10 lead, and several hitting errors by URI allowed Fordham to take the first set, 25-23.
The second and third sets ended similarly for Rhody. Both sets featured multiple unanswered runs by Fordham, and after committing 20 hitting errors, URI found itself in too deep a hole, and the visiting Rams won both sets to sweep the match, 3-0.
“They’re a really solid blocking team,” Sullivan said. “I felt that we had a good game plan. We didn’t really execute it at times, but it comes with the youth of our team. It’s the confidence factor that we need to grow into.”
The secret to winning their first conference matches goes beyond the confidence of Sullivan and his team.
“We’ve got to be consistent,” Sullivan said. “We are in every single match that we play in, and then we give it up to a team that’s used to losing. We have some really talented individuals, but we’re gonna have to reshuffle our cards a little bit and see how it goes.”
