Rhody women's volleyball falls to Xavier University

10/22/08 - The University of Rhode Island women's volleyball team dropped to 9-11 with its second straight loss.Xavier came out of the gates on fire, winning all of the first six points. The Rams managed to work their way back into the game, getting the score as close as 15-14, in favor of Xavier. The Musketeers won the next four points, and didn't stop, winning the game 25-19.

"It was the second match of the weekend and our players were gassed," head coach Bob Schneck said. "We didn't pass too well, and that's a trap."

Game two featured a lot of back-and-forth play between the two teams. Xavier was slowly running away with a 22-14 lead late in the game. The Rams rallied behind sophomore Lauren McIntosh (six kills) to draw the score to 22-18. This was as close as URI got, as the Musketeers took three of the next five points to win the set 25-20.

Facing elimination in the third set, the Rams needed a strong start, which they delivered with a quick 8-3 lead. They held this lead until a late rally from the Musketeers, who scored five straight to take an 18-16 lead.

The Rams continued to fight their way to a 23-23 tie. After a block by McIntosh to give them the lead, junior Caitlyn Welsh lifted the Rams to victory with one of her 13 kills in the match.

"I feel like the fans may have gotten to us," Schneck said. "They were hanging out over the bleachers and practically touching our players."

URI battled with Xavier for most of the fourth set, trailing the game 14-13 midway. The Musketeers took charge, taking 10 of the next 13 points to take a commanding 24-16 lead. After a few late points by the Rams, Xavier finished the match off with a kill by Kelly Ruth, winning 25-19.

"I'm encouraged with their efforts thus far," Schneck said. "With a young team, it's tough to be in a lot of matches and lose them."

For the eighth straight match, Welsh reached double-figures in kills. She is leading the team with 253 kills, averaging 12.6 kills per match.

Senior Peggy Doino continues to lead the defense, following her teammate's impressive example, finishing the match with 18 digs.

Freshman Stacey Yohannes poured in 12 kills, as well as nine digs for the Rams. Sophomore Kayla Newberg had seven kills to just one error in the match. Sophomore Kalyn Klaess finished the match with three aces. Sophomore setter Lindsay Lytle compiled 39 assists throughout the match for the Rams.

"We need to win five of our remaining eight matches in order to reach our goal of the A-10 Tournament," Schneck said.

The Rams have two matches ahead of them this weekend. Friday, the Rams will pay a visit to North Carolina to play the Charlotte 49ers (9-13), who have lost nine of their last 10 games. Following that, URI will travel to George Washington University (11-8) to take on the Colonials, who are riding a five-game winning streak.

"We have two big ones this weekend," Schneck said.