Rhode Island Starters
Houchens, Rolle, Vente, Stermenska, Bowman, Jonick, Henry (L)

Northwestern Starters 
Simkus, Gerry, Carter, Elnady, Reid, Bullington, Wright (L), Navarrete (L)

How It Happened
Northwestern's trio of Rylen Reid, Campbell Paris and Ayah Elnady combined for 27 kills in three sets as the visiting Wildcats swept Rhode Island 25-15, 25-16, 25-20 Monday afternoon in Keaney Gymnasium.

Rhode Island (2-8) played well in flashes, but it could not keep up with Northwestern, which improved to 9-1 on the season. The Wildcats hit .405 as a team, using its size advantage well. On the defensive side, Northwestern was successful on 78.9 percent of its sideout chances, preventing the Rams from sustaining many rallies.

Set One – Northwestern 25, Rhode Island 15
Rylen Reid started out hot, delivering five kills with no errors in the set for the Wildcats. Northwestern also had 13 digs and three blocks on 31 Rhody attacks. The defensive pressure led to seven attack errors for URI. Aerin Bowman provided four kills with no errors in seven attempts, but the offense struggled to gain traction.

Set Two – Northwestern 25, Rhode Island 16
The Rhody attack was better in the second set, getting 11 kills with five errors in 31 attacks. However, there was no slowing down Northwestern, which hit .500 as a team (16 kills, 2 errors in 28 attacks). Campbell Paris led the way with five kills in as many swings.

Set One – Northwestern 25, Rhode Island 20
Rhode Island was more competitive in the final set, keeping rallies alive longer. The Rams had 14 digs - four by Dakota Henry and three by McKenna Melton - after having 18 in the first two sets combined. Bowman delivered five kills in the set and URI stayed within a couple points throughout. The strength of Northwestern was too much, as the Wildcats had 11 kills with two errors on the attack. Six service errors hurt Rhody, and it was unable to force a fourth set.

Inside the Box Score

• Senior Aerin Bowman had a season-high 11 kills while hitting a team-best .391.
• Freshman Autumn Tombline had 15 assists in two sets. She was just one shy of her career high.
• Sophomore Havyn Rolle had seven kills with just one error.
• Sophomore Dakota Henry had a team-high 11 digs.
• Junior Ema Stermenska had 10 assists and four digs.

Up Next
Rhode Island plays a pair of road matches this weekend, visiting NJIT on Friday, Sept. 19 (5 p.m.) and then heading to Manhattan on Saturday, Sept. 20 (2 p.m.). The match against NJIT will stream on AmericaEast.tv, while the Manhattan match will stream on GoJaspers.com.