SPORTS

 

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Atlantic 10 volleyball leader VCU proved to be too much for Davidson Saturday evening taking a 3-0 decision inside John M. Belk Arena. Set scores were 25-13, 25-21 and 25-14.

“I’m proud of the experience our freshmen got today and excited for the dividends that will pay going forward,” said head coach Chris Willis. Four freshmen saw significant action in the match.

The Rams (10-7) remained unbeaten in league matches at 5-0, while the Wildcats dropped to 1-4 in A-10 action and 7-8 overall.

Hattie Rodriguez and Ciera Cockrell each paced Davidson’s offense with 12 kills apiece, and Cockrell hit a team and season-best .385 on 26 swings. Mason Rooney had 12 assists, but was held to just two kills on 15 attempts.

Just one Ram reached double-digits in kills, led by Vicky Giommarini with 14, but as a team they hit .379 for the match (45 kills on 87 swings, 12 errors). The duo of Dajah Ard (22) and Tyler Sroufe (15) combined for 37 of the Rams’ 43 assists.

The first set started out slow for the ‘Cats, falling behind 14-4 after a 10-1 run by VCU and they were never able to recover. VCU hit .407 for the set and closed it with a Giommarini kill at 25-13.

Behind Cockrell’s six kills in the second set, Davidson played much better as it took leads of 10-8 and later 14-12. A Cockrell kill a few points later gave the Wildcats its biggest lead at 17-14. The Rams answered though, using an 8-2 run to take a 22-19 advantage. Cockrell’s final kill in the set made it 24-21 before VCU sealed the win on a Wildcat attacking error.

VCU put the match away in the third set, hitting .571 with just two hitting errors on 28 swings. A kill by Paula Neciporuka doubled up the Wildcats at 12-6 early and the deficit grew to 20-11 later before Giommarini sealed the match win with two kills for two of the final three Ram points in a 25-14 win.

The Wildcats will hit the road Tuesday night for a non-conference match at N.C. Central.