Volleyball drops final games of the season

VCU volleyball faced a tough weekend on the road, dropping both games against Atlantic-10 top contenders. The Rams were able to lock-up the five seed in the A-10 conference, however, finishing the season 8-6 as they look ahead to tournament play beginning next Friday against the fourth-seeded Duquesne University.

Dayton

VCU’s offense managed to compete with the No. 23 Dayton Flyers (28-1) but it wasn’t enough to come out victorious.

Sunday afternoon the Rams lost 3 sets to 1 at the Frericks Center, leaving the Flyers undefeated in the Atlantic 10 for the fourth year.

Dayton ends the 2016 regular season with the nation’s best winning percentage (.966) with its 28-1 overall record. The Flyers finished A-10 play with a perfect 14-0 mark. VCU moved to 18-13 on the season and 8-6 in league action.

The Black and Gold kept Dayton within reach all match. VCU lost the first set by four points and the second set by two. In the third set the Rams cranked up the heat and beat Dayton 25-17, the biggest deficit of the game.

Unfortunately for the Rams, the flame died and Dayton won the final set decisively 25-14, sealing their 17th win in a row.

The last time the Flyers and Rams met in October, the game ended in a similar 3-1 fashion with VCU’s lone win coming from the third set.

VCU hit .265 compared to Dayton’s .303. The Rams also recorded 53 digs against the Flyers.  

Freshman outside hitter  Vicky Giommarini hit .300 and scored 12 kills for the Rams. Freshman middle back Jasmin Sneed was a force to be reckoned with, hitting .533 with 10 kills, three blocks and three aces.

“Jasmin Sneed had another good match for us,” said coach Jody Rogers. “Our setters did a great job today. Good distribution.”

Junior outside hitter Alica Kandler also provided 10 kills, 10 digs and hit .290 for VCU, while junior libero Rebekah Strange kicked in with 15 digs.

“Tough weekend against the top two teams in the conference, but we played better today than Friday,” Rogers said. “The girls had a lot of fight in them.  We made too many errors later in the set. We need to be better later in the sets, and that’s what we’re going to work on this week as we prepare to play for an A-10 Championship.”

Saint Louis

Despite sophomore middle blocker Tori Baldwin’s six kills and six blocks for the Rams, Saint Louis handed VCU a 3-0 loss Friday night at Chaifetz Pavilion.

Freshman opposite hitter Gina Tuzzolo swung a team-high seven kills for VCU while hitting .284. She added one block. Strange aided the Rams defensive effort with 14 digs.

Giommarini added five kills and hit .273 for the Rams, while Sneed recorded five of her own.

Billikens junior outside hitter and Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year candidate Danielle Rygelski put on an impressive performance Friday, blasting 21 kills on 33 attempts for a .485 attack percentage. Behind Rygelski, Saint Louis hit .384 on the night. SLU also served up five aces, including two by Rygelski.

VCU out-blocked Saint Louis 7-6 but that wasn’t enough for SLU to record .384 hitting while holding VCU to a .136 attack percentage. The Billikens also out-dug the Rams defensively 33-24.

VCU has completed its regular season. The Rams travel back to the Chaifetz Pavilion in St. Louis. to compete against No. 4 Duquesne on Friday, Nov. 18 at 8:30 p.m. in the tournament quarterfinals. The last time the the Dukes and Rams met, the Dukes came out with the 3-1 win in Pittsburgh.   

Jessica Wetzler, Contributing Writer

SPORTS EDITOR

Sophia Belletti
Sophia is a junior journalism major pursuing a minor in gender, sexuality and women’s studies. She enjoys writing about current events and sports, and hopes to one day be a sports reporter covering soccer, basketball and/or baseball. You can usually find Sophia drinking way too much coffee and laughing at her own jokes.
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