Rhode Island Starters 
Powers, Me. Disu, Abuto, Ma. Disu, Rolle, Butler, Henry (L)

No. 24 Dayton Starters
Smith, Almodovar, Miller, Russell, Sarkissian, Yates, Kaminski (L)

How it Happened
Rhode Island opened up Atlantic 10 conference play with a 3-0 loss to No.24 Dayton (25-14, 25-9, 25-18) on Friday evening at the Frericks Center. 

Set One - Dayton 25, Rhode Island 14
The Rams (5-9, 0-1 Atlantic 10) remained within striking distance of the Flyers at the start of the opening set until a 4-0 run put the home team up, 12-7. Following a URI timeout, a block from Megan Disu and Chloe Abuto stopped the Dayton (11-1, 1-0 Atlantic 10) spurt but the Flyers continued to cushion their lead, eventually securing the first set.

Set Two - Dayton 25, Rhode Island 9
Dayton jumped out to a 10-3 lead to start the second, reaching double-digit points on back-to-back kills from Lexie Almodovar. From there, the home team kept it rolling while the Rams scored just six more times. A third of URI's nine points in the frame came from Megan Disu kills.

Set Three - Dayton 25, Rhode Island 18
The Flyers had a similar margin to start the third set, opening it up with a 12-4 run. Rhode Island had a pair of three-point pushes down the stretch, mostly capitalizing on Dayton errors, but was unable to create any sustainable momentum. 

Inside the Box Score

• Sophomore Megan Disu led Rhode Island with five kills.
• Rhode Island topped Dayton in team blocks, 5-4. Rhody's effort was led by sophomore Chloe Abuto, who had three block assists. Senior Andrea Owens, freshman Havyn Rolle and Disu chipped in two block assists apiece.
• Freshman Dakota Henry logged nine digs and two assists. 
• Senior Katie Butler dished out 11 assists and added four digs.
• Rhode Island hit -.046 as a team, its lowest percentage of the season. 
• Dayton's Taylor Russell recorded five out of the Flyers' nine total service aces.
• URI had three from as many players in senior Edie Lamoreaux, junior Ryleigh Powers and Rolle.
• The Flyers recorded 41 kills with a .255 hitting percentage as a team. Rhody finished with just 16 kills.