Last night was an off night for the volleyball team. The team hoped to conclude its non-conference season with a win against cross-town rival URI and build some momentum going into its first match of the Ivy League season against Yale this Friday. Instead, the Bears played completely flat against Rhody, who capitalized on Brown's rusty play and put the match away 3-1.
At first, the two teams went head-to-head with neither one able to pull ahead with a lead of more than one point. But URI gained the edge after scoring three consecutive points to increase its lead to 18-15. At that time, Head Coach Diane Short called for a time-out and showed her anger when she talked to her players.
"When I called the first time-out, the team was not playing with enough effort and lacked focus," Short said. "That's the only thing that gets me angry - lack of effort and focus."
The time-out seemed to wake up the players. Right after resuming play, Lyndse Yess '09 put down a kill, but URI did not lose control of the game and kept its three-point lead when it scored its 20th point. At that point, URI went on a 7-2 run to finish the game, 25-18. In contrast to Bruno who could not deliver the kills, the Rams had everything going for them both offensively and defensively. URI outhit Brown .250 to .185 with three of its players posting double-digit kills. In addition, the Rams recorded 11 blocks to explain Brown's low-hitting percentage.
"We kept fighting," Short said. "But we made more mistakes."
The second game was equally lopsided. Brown trailed 20-17 when Short called for the third time-out of the game and tried to gain some points with some substitutions. She put in Annika Gliottone '12 at libero to replace starter Kim Bundick '10. But it did not change the momentum of the game and URI wrapped up the second game 25-19.
"I tried to change the lineup, but that didn't work," Short said. "We were serving too easy and consistently playing catch-ups."
Not even the two seniors could help the Bears get into a rhythm.
"In the first two games, we weren't playing," Yess said. "We weren't passing. We weren't putting balls down. There was a lack of effort."
Things improved a little in the third game. Down two sets, the Bears could not afford any more room for mistakes. After scoring the first point in the game, the Bears fought to keep the lead. Brown had a short episode of offensive brilliance after it opened up a lead of three at 10-7. But Rhody immediately responded to tie it at 13-13. The game continued to be close with Brown leading by one at 20-19.
The Bears got a breather when URI had a service error and gained a two-point cushion. Just points away from sealing the set, middle-blocker Danielle Vaughan '11 blocked two consecutive balls at the net to give Bruno its first game win of the night at 25-20.
"We had to refocus in the third game," Yess said. "We had to pick up the intensity."
Unfortunately, the effort wasn't enough to help the Bears turn the tide in the fourth and last game. URI again charged to take the early lead, which increased to five points at 19-14. The Bears pursued tenaciously.
Captain Natalie Meyers '09 made several huge digs to give the Bears a chance to stay in the game. With a miraculous comeback, the Bears closed the gap to two points at 18-20, then tying the Rams at 20-20 before scoring two more points to put itself in front 22-20.
The Bears were at the brink of upsetting again, but this time URI held on and stormed past the Bears at 24-23. In the last rally, Yess tried to put down the ball, but the URI blockers denied her the kill and the ball bounced off the blockers' hands and onto the Bear's court-match over.
"We played scared," Meyers said. "Maybe it's because we won so many games. Today we played not to lose and we haven't been playing well for a week."
But Meyers doesn't believe yesterday's play was a true showing of the team's level. Short agrees.
"We will make some adjustments (Thursday) at practice. We will expect better effort," Short said.
The team will face off against Yale in its first Ivy League match on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Pizzitola Sports Center. The next day, the Bears will travel to Yale for their second match-up with the Bulldogs.
Bottom line, "We have to play harder," Yess said.
