Oct. 31, 2001

AMHERST, Mass. - Sophomore Nitia Small led the way with 16 kills and a .448 hitting percentage Wednesday night as Massachusetts upset visiting Rhode Island 3-0, handing the Rams their third straight loss in Atlantic 10 play and avenging a shutout loss in Kingston back on Oct. 9.

Seventh-place UMass (12-11, 5-8) dominated the third-place Rams 30-16, 30-19, 30-18, ringing up a team hitting percentage of .370 to just .030 for Rhode Island (13-10, 9-4).

Small stung the Rams with a 16-3-29 hitting line, getting half of her kills in the second game alone. Lymarie Llovet erupted for a .391 line (11-2-23) and 13 digs, and fellow senior Janeen DeMarte led both teams with 16 digs.

The Rams, who'd won 10 straight through Friday, slipped from first to third place with road losses to Xavier and Dayton over the weekend. They remain in third, however, with three matches left in the regular season.

The top four finishers advance to the Atlantic 10 playoffs Nov. 16-17 at UMass.

Sophomore middle blocker Michelle Fulton led Rhode Island with nine kills, and junior setter Juliana Valencia led the Rams in digs with 11.

Rhode Island (13-10) 16 19 18 -- 0
Massachusetts (12-11) 30 30 30 -- 3