How It Happened
Rhode Island saw its nine-match win streak come to an end Friday night at Saint Louis as the Billikens rallied back from a 2-0 deficit to win the match and extend their own win streak to 12 in a row. 

The Rams (11-4, 3-1) remained on top through much of the first set, with the Billikens taking their first lead at 18-17. From there, Rhode Island closed things out with an 8-3 run to take an early 1-0 lead in the match.

Saint Louis (14-5, 3-0) scored three of the first four points in the second set, but back-to-back aces by Cate Seman capped a 5-2 Rhody push to put the Rams up 6-5. URI did not trail for the remainder of the set, winning again by a score of 25-21 to head into the break up 2-0.

Set #3 featured eight ties and five lead changes, but the Billikens won the back-and-forth battle 26-24. SLU rode the momentum into the fourth set, leading by as many as five points on four separate occasions. Trailing 20-15, Rhode Island clawed its way back and got within one at 20-19, 21-20, 22-21 and 23-22, but was unable to surge ahead as Saint Louis took the set 25-22 to even the match at 2-2.

Once again, SLU distanced itself in the decisive fifth set, leading by as many as five after a Lauren Leverenz ace made the score 12-7. The Rams charged back however, evening the score at 13-13 and again at 14-14 thanks to a pair of kills by Franki Darnold. An Audrey Castro kill then gave the Rams match point (15-14), but Saint Louis scored back-to-back points off Rhode Island errors before a service ace by Meredith Boe sealed the win for the Billikens.

Inside the Box Score

• Junior Audrey Castro registered her fourth double-double of the season with 17 kills and 17 digs. She also added two aces and four blocks.
• Senior Franki Darnold reached double figures in kills for the 13th time in 15 matches this season. She finished with 20 on the night, narrowly missing a double-double with nine digs.
• Senior Cate Seman led all players with four service aces. As a team, the Billikens had just three compared to Rhody's seven.
• Seman also had 10 digs, six kills and four block assists for the Rams.
• Sophomore Marie Gillcrist matched her career high with nine total blocks - two of which were solos. She also recorded seven kills with just one error.
• Callan Kinnan ended the night with 50 assists, marking her fifth match of the season with 50 or more. The junior setter added eight digs and two kills and a pair of blocks.
• Junior Layne Self recorded 10 kills and six blocks while freshman Olivia Budinich and senior Lizzy Scanlon each had nine digs.
• Reigning Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week Danielle Rygelski posted a match-high 28 kills to go along with 13 digs and four blocks.

What's Next
The Rams will now travel to Dayton (10-5, 3-0) for a Sunday afternoon match.