04/08/2019
Both URI squads entered this weekend undefeated in D1 and D2 and both teams fell short of their goals unfortunately...
The D1 Rams A squad opened up with their rival UConn and despite a few moments of greatness the Huskies were super inflated to knock off the team that had bested them earlier in the season. Only a few minutes into the match, captain Joe Honig went down with a sprained ankle. Prognosis is not great but theres an outside shot he'll be able to play in 10 days in Denver. The Huskies took advantage and shut down the A Rams 2-0. Next up, URI redeemed itself with a 2-1 win over Tufts, then took another loss to eventual finalist Northeastern. Last match of Saturday ended on a high note with a 2-1 win over UMASS Amherst. URI finished day one at 2-2 and a 4th seed headed into Sundays double elim round.
The B Rams had a great Saturday - cruising through pool play with 2-0 wins over UCONN B, Williams and Bentley. They remained unblemished headed into Sunday....with the other bracket also being dominated by Marist (NY) who the Rams were on a collision course with.
Sunday's elimination day paired the A Rams against Boston College. BC was the north stud team who, like the A Rams, had gone undefeated all season. The two had never met up...and the A Rams, after licking their wounds from Saturdays below par performance, came out firing on all cylinders. First set went to URI in dominating fashion! The Rams were on absolute fire and BC was on its heels. Set two started out solid with both teams going point for point in an absolute slugfest. Once again bad luck reared its head as starting right side hitter and captain Nik Thommes also went down with a badly rolled ankle. Two captains and two starters out of the mix was a huge blow to momentum and BC took full advantage. The A Rams battled but eventually fell to BC and were knocked into the contenders bracket. Short staffed and banged up, the powerful upperclassmen exited quietly to Boston University in a consolation match and finished the weekend 2-4 and 17-4 on the season.
On the other side...
The B Rams met head to head with a gigantic Marist team made up of mostly seniors and juniors while the "Baby" Rams sported only one upperclassmen and a full lineup of freshmen. The Baby Rams had a good lead in game one but Marist's size overwhelmed the scrappy youngsters by only several points in each set. The championship final was definitely a great game to watch with two undefeated teams pounding at each other for an hour. The Baby Rams finished their season at 18 wins and only one loss. This feeder program was a great idea and helped develop many more players to move up for next season and helped shore up the program for years to come.
Although the weekend results were short of expectations, regular season was very successful and the A Rams will be reloading and resting up for practice this week with building excitement to play at the National Championships next Wednesday in Denver!
