How It Happened
Franki Darnold had 16 kills and tournament MVP Audrey Castro added 11 as Rhode Island swept Columbia 3-0 (25-23, 34-32, 25-15) for its seventh straight win Saturday at the Seawolves Invitational, hosted by Stony Brook.

The first two sets were tightly contested. After Columbia opened with an 8-4 lead, Rhode Island (9-3) scored four straight points to tie things up. From that point, there were four lead changes and nine ties, as neither team led by more than three points the rest of the set. A service error by Columbia and a kill by Darnold gave Rhody the first set.

Columbia (2-7) rebounded quickly and took nine of the first 11 points in the second set. Rhode Island fought back and eventually tied the score 15-15. The action was as back-and-fourth as could be from there, as there were 11 lead changes and 10 ties before back-to-back kills by Darnold and Layne Self finally gave the Rams a two-set edge.

Leading 17-14 in the third set, the Rhody defense took over. Rhode Island ended the match with an 8-1 stretch that featured five blocks, including one by Self and Callan Kinnan to close out the match.

Inside the Box Score

• Junior Audrey Castro was named the tournament MVP. In three matches over the weekend, she had 45 kills, 27 digs, three service aces, three assists and two blocks. Castro hit .327 for the tournament and averaged 4.09 kills and 2.45 digs per set.
• Also named to the all-tournament team were senior Franki Darnold and junior Callan Kinnan. 
• Darnold – who has 10 or more kills in 11 straight matches – moved into fourth place in Rhode Island history with 1,101 kills. She trails only Kengy Gardiner (1,637), Angela McHenry (1,406) and Lauren Maselli (1,158). The three other women played during the side out era, when teams had to have serve in order to score team points.
• Kinnan had 40 assists, despite the match going just three sets. She is now averaging 10.54 assists per set for the season. Kinnan also had five block assists.
• Layne Self had six block assists on the day, the last of which was the 300th block of her career. She is just the eighth player in program history to reach 300.

Stat of the Day
88 – Audrey Castro has 88 kills through 12 matches this season. In her first 35 career matches, she had 14 kills.

What's Next
Rhode Island opens conference play when it hosts VCU Friday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m.