Volleyball sweeps past Rhode Island to start the season

Friday, September 2

Providence, R.I.

7:00 p.m.

Brown University

1-0,0-0Ivy League

Rhode Island

0-4,0-0Atlantic 10

Rhode Island

Brown

Photo by: Erica Denhoff

Volleyball sweeps past Rhode Island to start the season

9/2/2022 9:28:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown volleyball made quick work of Rhode Island to open the season in front of a packed crowd at the Pizzitola Sports Center on Friday (Sept. 2). The Bears swept the Rams with a score of 25-17, 25-14 and 25-13.

Brown was led by Beau Vanderlaan with 10 kills, followed by Jilienne Widener with nine and Sophia Miller with eight. Miller finished the game hitting .318 finishing with just one error on 22 attempts.

Cierra Jenkins guided the Bears' offense with 28 assists and tallied eight digs and four kills. Kate Sheire added five kills for the Bears, hitting .455.

"It felt like a homecoming and I want to thank the Class of 2026 for coming out," said head coach Ahen Kim. "We had some jitters going early but once we settled down I was really proud of our team to find the rhythm early. All of these teams that we are playing this weekend had three matches last weekend. I thought Rhode Island played very good errorless volleyball in the first set and it was up to us to find some rhythm. I was really proud of our team finding that rhythm and working really hard tonight."

The Bears got off to a slow start, trailing 7-3 but tied the set with two kills from Vanderlaan and one each by Miller and Jenkins. After the Rams jumped ahead 10-7 Brown stormed back with a 10-1 run that ended with a service ace from Vanderlaan.

Rhode Island stopped the run, but two kills from Gabby Derrick and one by Widener pushed the lead to 20-12. Derrick and Miller combined for a blocks and a few points later, a Derrick kill and ace by Victoria Vo gave Brown set point. Sheire finished off the set with a kill.

The next two sets were dominated by Brown's defense. The Bears held Rhode Island to just .122 hitting in the first set but put the clamps on the Rams, holding them to -.074 and -.07 hitting in the second and third sets. For the game, Brown outhit Rhode Island .261 to .000.

Freshman Jessie Golden led the Bears with 16 digs, followed by Vo with 12 and Miller with 11. Brown finished with a 60-43 advantage in digs and an 8-4 advantage in blocks.

With Rhode Island up 7-6 in the second, Brown used another big 10-1 to jump ahead 16-8. Vanderlaan led the Bears with three blocks during the run. The teams traded points with Brown up 21-13 before the Bears scored four of the next five points, finishing the set with a kill by Miller.

The Bears came roaring out of the blocks in set three jumping ahead 4-1 and increasing the lead to 10-2 with kills by Miller capping the run. A block by the duo of Widener and Vanderlaan helped put Brown up 13-3. The lead would jump to 13 as Rhode Island committed back-to-back errors. Freshman Sophia Treder finished the game with a kill to close out the match.

UP NEXT
Brown will be in action for two matches on Saturday. The Bears will start the day against Air Force at 10:30 a.m. before closing out the weekend against Siena at 7 p.m.