Oct. 16, 2009

Box Score

PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle volleyball team played the second of three straight home matches on Friday, but two early set wins from Rhode Island kept the Rams ahead as the Explorers fell short, 3-1 (15-25, 21-25, 25-17, 16-25).

Trailing after the first two sets, the Explorers punched in 10 of the first 16 points in the third. Their largest lead of the set ballooned to nine, 23-14, and then a kill from senior Rachel Stemper awarded the Explorers the victory, 25-17.

After each team exchanged points in the fourth set, the Explorers cut the deficit to three, 19-16. Rhode Island poured in the final six points to give them the win, 25-16.

Freshman Samantha Tulskie led all participants with 23 digs and junior Carly Conlon followed up with a team-high 19 assists, along with three digs. Stemper contributed seven kills, 17 digs and two block assists and freshman Kelly Scanlon led the team with nine kills.

Juniors Lauren McIntosh and Kayla Newberg each totaled 11 kills for Rhode Island on Friday. McIntosh led everyone in the match with five block assists. Sophomore Candice Kolkka ended the evening with a match-high 41 assists, in addition to 13 digs, and senior Caitlyn Welsh finished one kill shy of a double-double, ending with nine kills, 15 digs and two block assists.

The Explorers (3-21, 0-6) host Fordham on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. ET. La Salle will use Saturday’s match as an opportunity to “Dig for the Cure” in which all pledges and upfront donations for the total number of digs on the Explorers’ side will go directly to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.