Volleyball Atlantic 10 Conference

Fifth-Seeded VCU Upends #4 Rhode Island, Advances to Semifinals

DAYTON, Ohio—Fifth-seeded VCU won a 3-2 (25-20, 20-25, 22-25, 25-16, 15-10) marathon match with No. 4 Rhode Island to advance to the semifinals at the 2014 Atlantic 10 Volleyball Championship at the Frericks Center on the University of Dayton campus.

VCU (17-12) advances to face top-seeded Dayton in the semifinals Saturday at 4:30 pm. Rhode Island wraps up its season with an 18-10 record.

VCU scored six of the first eight points in set one, with All-Conference selection Kalah Jones claiming a pair of kills. VCU held the lead for the remainder of the set, pushing it as high as seven on two different occasions, once on an ace by Jane Feddersen and the other on a kill by All-Rookie selection Jessica Young.

It was Rhode Island that jumped out to an early lead in set two, pulling ahead by five at 14-9 on an kill by Cate Seman. But VCU fought back and tied the match at 18 on a block by Jones and Nora Reed. Rhody tallied five of the next six points to pull back in the lead and eventually win the set on a kill by Layne Self.

Set three was back and forth throughout, with 15 ties and four lead changes, and neither team led by more than two. Kills from Seman, Self and All-Conference selection Franki Darnold closed out the match and put Rhode Island up 2-1 in the match.

VCU stormed back in set four, again taking a quick, early lead and using a 4-1 run late in the match to establish a comfortable 23-12 lead. But Rhode Island rallied with its own 4-1 run before Jones put down a kill to claim the set for VCU.

The fifth set was decided by a late 5-0 VCU run that turned a game tied at eight into a 13-8 VCU advantage. An ace by All-Conference setter Cecilia Aragao gave VCU the victory.

Young led the VCU offense with 17 kills, hitting .405. Jones had a 12-kill, 10-dig double-double and Aragao recorded 44 assists and 15 digs for VCU. VCU also hit .259 for the match and got a match-high seven blocks from Reed

Darnold had 16 kills and 13 digs for a double-double and Seman tallied 14 kills while hitting .444. Callan Kinnan recorded 47 assists for URI.