Rhode Island Starters
Johnson, Abuto, Rolle, Richter, Sawyer, Thomas, Keaney, Henry (L)
Holy Cross Starters
Murphy, L., Sorensen, Glover, Murphy, G., Flanagan, College, Hall (L), Whitwell (L)
How it Happened
For the second time in as many days, Rhode Island (2-0) won in five sets. The Rams used a fifth-set rally and the best single-match hitting percentage in three years to knock off Holy Cross (1-1) 3-2 (25-21, 19-25, 25-21, 16-25, 15-9) Saturday at the CCSU Tournament.
Set One - Rhode Island 25, Holy Cross 21
The Rams were clicking early on offense, piling up 15 kills in the opening set.
Cara Richter led the way with five kills and
Havyn Rolle added three. Setter
Carly Thomas had 11 assists and three kills of her own as she orchestrated an attack that hit .225 in the first frame.
Chloe Abuto and Richter iced the set with URI's third block of the stanza.
Set Two - Holy Cross 25, Rhode Island 19
With Holy Cross leading 17-16, the Crusaders used a 3-0 spurt to take control. Sarahya College teamed with Kyla Harris on a block and then delivered a kill to make the score 20-16. Holy Cross led by as many as five as it cruised down the stretch to even things up.
Set Three - Rhode Island 25, Holy Cross 21
Rhode Island trailed 18-16 when it used a 4-0 run to pull ahead.
Grace Keaney started things with a kill.
Cara Richter followed with a kill that was set up by a sprawling dig from
Jahan Lalli that kept the rally alive.
Emily Sawyer and
Chloe Abuto teamed for a block, and another Holy Cross attack error put the Rams in front, 20-18. Richter - who has four kills in the set - added two in a span of four points, and Abuto and Hayvn Rolle paired for a block that made the score 23-20. Sawyer sandwiched a pair of kills around a Crusader point to give URI the set.
Set Four - Holy Cross 25, Rhode Island 16
Holy Cross opened with a 13-5 run and led from wire-to-wire. The Crusaders led by as many as 10 points (17-7). Rhody managed to cut the deficit to four multiple times, but it could not threaten the lead.
Set 5 - Rhode Island 15, Holy Cross 9
Things looked grim when Holy Cross got out to a 6-2 lead. However, Rhode Island responded with an 8-0 run that featured three blocks from
KJ Johnson, who also added a kill during the stretch. After a Holy Cross kill slowed the momentum for a moment,
Havyn Rolle had three kills and Johnson had an ace, pushing URI's lead to 14-7. After two points by the Crusaders, Rolle finished the match with her fifth kill of the set.
Inside the Box Score.
- Rhode Island is now 11-0 against Holy Cross all time.
- The last time the Rams won back-to-back five-set matches was in head coach Ryan Sullivan's first season, when they beat Harvard and Northern Illinois at the 2024 Art Carmichael Invitational.
- URI had 62 kills with just 14 errors in 151 total attacks. The .318 hitting percentage was the team's highest since hitting .347 in a sweep of Stonehill in 2023.
- Cara Richter led the attack with 13 kills, while Havyn Rolle added 11.
- Rolle had five kills with no errors in the final set. She had six kills with seven errors in the first four sets combined.
- Emily Sawyer hit .562 for the match, piling up nine kills with no errors in 16 attacks.
- KJ Johnson had eight kills, five digs and six blocks, including three solo blocks.
- Grace Keaney had seven kills with zero errors.
- Jahan Lalli provided a big boost off the bench, delivering 16 assists and 11 digs in four sets for her first career double-double.
- Last season, Rhode Island had four double-doubles total in 30 matches. Through two matches this season, the team already has four double-doubles, as Carly Richter, Havyn Rolle, Carly Thomas and Jahan Lalli all have one each.
- Carly Thomas had 26 assists, seven kills and seven digs. She had a .636 attack percentage, getting seven kills with zero errors in 11 attacks.
- Dakota Henry had 28 digs, double the total of any other player for either side. It is the fifth most digs in a match by a Rhode Island player since the start of the rally point era.
Up Next
Rhode Island plays host Central Connecticut State Sunday, Aug. 30 at 11 a.m. The match will stream on
NEC Front Row.
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