Rhode Island Starters (4-19, 1-10 Atlantic 10)
Powers, Disu, Owens, Shilling, Passerello, Blahut, Blaney (L)

Duquesne Starters (10-9, 5-6 Atlantic 10)
Gish, Wilmot, Helm, Henschen, Hobson, Robertson, Grimm (L)

How It Happened
Andrea Owens delivered a season-high 18 kills and Rhode Island emphatically snapped a 10-match losing streak by sweeping Duquesne 3-0 Saturday afternoon. The Rams won 25-23, 25-21, 26-24.

Set One – Rhode Island 25, Duquesne 23 
Rhody trailed by four points at 18-14, but a 5-0 run that featured three Andrea Owens kills spurred the Rams to a 19-18 lead. The teams traded a few points to get the set tied 20-20 before Aerin Bowman sandwiched two kills around a block by her and Samantha Blahur for a three-point lead. Duquesne responded with three straight points of its own, but kills from Madi Disu and Blahut clinched the opening set for the Rams.

Set Two – Rhode Island 25, Duquesne 21
Andrea Owens had six kills by the midpoint of the second set, helping Rhode Island jump out to a 15-12 lead. The teams traded points throughout the set, but Owens came up big again, scoring the final two URI points of the set to put Rhode Island ahead, 2-0.

Set Three – Duquesne 25, Rhode Island 15
Duquesne managed to build a 15-11 lead following a Carsyn Henschen kill. Rhode Island rallied and tied the score 19-19 after an attack error by the Dukes. After Duquesne scored two straight points, Rhody kept the pressure on with a kill from Madi Disu and two more from Andrea Owens to move in front, 21-22. The back-and-forth continued with Duquesne grabbing two straight points, but one more Owens kills tied the score at 23-23. Duquesne fought for its life and got set point at 24-23 with a Madison Floyd kill, but Megan Disu and Gabrielle Shilling combined on a kill to kill off the set point. Hope Passerello delivered a kill to give URI match point, and the Rams got their first conference win when an attack error by the Dukes closed the match out.

Inside the Box Score

• Junior Katie Butler had 16 assists, including the 1000th of her career. Butler has 715 assists in her two seasons at Rhode Island, plus 291 in one season at North Texas.
• She also had nine digs, just missing a double-double.
• Redshirt sophomore Hope Passerello had 17 assists and six digs.
• Junior Andrea Owens had a season-high 18 kills with just four attack errors, as she hit .389 for the match.
• Owens also had eight digs.
• Freshman Madi Disu added nine kills for the offense.
• Junior libero Hannah Blaney had 13 digs and five assists.
• Rhode Island had 45 kills, compared to 31 for Duquesne.

What's Next
Rhode Island hosts Fordham for a single match on Wednesday, Oct. 25. The match begins at 5 p.m. and will stream on ESPN+.