Women's Volleyball 9/1/2022 8:00:00 PM

Busy Weekend Ahead for Rhody Volleyball

The Weekend's Opponents

Rhode Island travels to Providence on Friday night to take on Brown University.
The Rams will then return to Kingston to host both Siena and Air Force on Saturday.
Rhode Island is a combined 28-7-1 against this weekend's opponents.
- URI vs. Brown: URI leads the all-time series, 27-7-1. The teams last met during the 2015 season, when Rhody won by a score of 3-0 (25-20, 32-30, 25-22).
- URI vs. Siena: Rhode Island leads the all-time series, 1-0. The Rams defeated the Saints 3-0 (25-21, 25-13, 25-19) in the first and only meeting between the two teams.
- URI vs. Air Force: Saturday's match will be the first ever between the two programs.

The Weekend's Coverage

Rhode Island (0-3)

Rhode Island opened the season at the Maryland Invite, where it dropped each of its three matches – to Maryland (3-0), Florida Gulf Coast (3-1) and Navy (3-1).
Sophomore transfer Katie Butler was named to the All-Tournament Team after averaging 6.55 assists per set.
Senior Claire Wagner has registered double-digit kills in all three matches and finished last weekend leading the team with 37 total (3.36 per set).
Fifth-year senior Abby Fillion leads the team in digs, with 40, followed by sophomore Hannah Blaney, who has 33.
Blaney has also recorded a team-best five service aces.
Grad student Gabrielle Shilling – who missed the majority of last season with an injury – combined for a team-leading nine blocks last weekend.
URI's 2022 roster features 12 returning players and four newcomers.
The Rams were picked to finish eighth in the 2022 Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll.

Brown (0-0)

Friday's game against URI will be Brown's season-opener.
The Bears played in the program's first-ever NCAA Tournament a year ago, going 20-6 overall and 13-1 in the Ivy League.
Brown returns a wealth of experience in 2022, including last season's Ivy League Player of the Year Cierra Jenkins, Defensive Player of the Year Victoria Vo and Rookie of the Year Beau Vanderlaan.
Jenkins averaged 10.12 assists per set last season while Vanderlaan had 91 total blocks and a .388 hitting percentage.
Vo became the first freshman in the history of the Ivy League to \ earn Defensive Player of the Year accolades after averaging 4.71 digs per set, and 5.22 in league play.

Siena (0-3)

The Saints opened the 2022 season at the Bearcat Classic, where they dropped a trio of 3-0 matches to Boston College, Maryland Eastern Shore and host Binghamton.
Sara Wagner leads the team with 2.78 kills per set and 25 total. Emily Wunder is just behind her with 22 (2.44 per set).
Claire Isaksen (38) and Meghan Johnsson (31) have combined for 69 of Siena's 88 assists. Isaksen also leads the team in service aces, with four.
Defensively, Gracie Halley is averaging a team-best 3.44 digs per set.
No player has more than two blocks on the season as the Saints were out-blocked 25-8 last weekend.

Air Force (3-0)

Air Force opened the season in style last weekend, hosting the Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic and winning each of its three matches.
The Falcons first knocked off Texas A&M Commerce 3-0 on Friday, before winning a pair of five-setters against Cal State Northridge and Drake on Saturday.
The 3-0 start is the first for Air Force since the 1999 season.
Joi Harvey was named the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Week on Monday after recording 26 blocks through the team's three matches last weekend. She also led the Air Force attack with a team-best 37 kills (2.85 per set).
Murphy Riggs and BrookeLyn Mesenger also helped power the Falcons' defense with 36 and 27 digs, respectively.
Messenger added a team-best eight service aces.
Amber Soto (45) and Caroline Reinkensmeyer (70) combined for 115 assists. Soto averaged 5.63 per set while Reinkensmeyer averaged 5.38 per set.

Players Mentioned