Sullivan’s second year caps off, volleyball swept in final series
The University of Rhode Island women’s volleyball team wrapped up its season against first-place University of Dayton in a weekend series at home, where the Rams went 0-2 to close out the year at 5-25.
On Friday, it was all Dayton to start the first set, getting out to an early 11-5 lead. It didn’t let up from there, collecting 17 kills with just two errors on a 58% attacking percentage to close out the first set with no real threat, 25-11.
There was a bit more fight from Rhode Island in the second set, as it chipped away at Dayton’s 5-1 lead to make it 11-10, courtesy of second-year Havyn Rolle and third-year Chloe Abuto. However, the momentum didn’t last long, as the Flyers would go on two late runs in the set, 3-0 and 7-1, and win the set 25-17 to take a 2-0 lead in the game.
Similar to the first set, all the control was in the hands of Dayton from the opening serve in the final set, once again hitting above .500 as a team to record 17 kills with no errors. The strength from the front row was enough to propel the Flyers to a set-three victory and take the first game of the series.
“I think there’s a few things we got to shore up,” URI Head Coach Ryan Sullivan said. “If we’re going to compete with a team like this that hits close to .500, you’re not going to beat anybody playing the way we did.”
Moving over to senior day on Saturday, not too much changed at the start. With Dayton using some of its momentum from Friday’s game, it once again got off to a hot start. This time, it was from the service line, having eight aces in the set, along with hitting 54% on attacks. URI fourth-year Aerin Bowman gathered three kills to try and slow down the Flyers, but it was too much for the Rams to handle, and they would drop the set, 25-14.
Sets two and three were just as dominant for Dayton, getting out to a 10-3 lead in the second and keeping its foot on the gas pedal to close it out 25-14 once again. It was the same story in the third, with third-year Kamryn Hunt leading the way with eight kills to lead the Flyers to a 25-16 set-three victory and another 3-0 sweep to close out the weekend 2-0 against the Rams.
Although the Rams couldn’t finish the season on a strong note, Sullivan had some positive takeaways from what he saw in both matches to end the season.
“We wanted to prove to our seniors who led the foundation for our program that we can eventually win a championship in this conference,” Sullivan said. “Little victories like today, scoring 16 points against a really solid team, is something that we’re really proud of, and I thought our team played incredibly hard against one of the best teams in the whole country.”
The Rams had their fair share of struggles during the season against some higher-ranked teams, but Sullivan believes it only helps to grow the program.
“Iron sharpens iron,” Sullivan said. “By playing the top competition, it’ll continue to challenge our program and will just get us to work harder in practice, but the biggest thing is that we’ve shown that we’re not afraid of these types of teams.”
With four seniors departing after this season, Sullivan has his eyes on some key members of his team who he expects to take on a bigger role next season.
“I think our middles, Chloe and Havyn, have led us in a lot of ways, but I’m looking for Chloe to be our senior leader next year,” Sullivan said. “I see [third-year] McKenna Melton taking a big jump, [third-year] Ema Stermenska as well, and we expect [second-year] Dakota Henry to shoulder a huge load defensively next year.”
URI now looks forward to 2026, as the team hopes to improve after a year of ups and downs and rebuild in hopes of a more rewarding season.
