Score: VCU 3, Rhode Island 2
Location: Dayton, Ohio (Frericks Center)
Records: VCU 17-12 (9-5), Rhode Island 18-10 (9-5)

THE BASICS

• VCU won a hard fought five-set battle with Rhode Island on Friday night to advance to the Atlantic 10 semifinals tomorrow.
• Jessica Young led all players with 17 kills, while Kalah Jones added 12. Senior Cecilia Aragao dished out 44 assists.
• The Rams opened the first set with a 5-1 lead, and maintained a lead throughout. Rhode Island put together a few short runs to cut the deficit, including a 3-1 run to cut the lead to three, 23-20, but VCU closed out the set with an URI error and a Young kill.
• URI battled back in the second set, winning it, 25-20. The set remained close, with URI handling a lead. With a pair of URI errors, VCU took a 19-18 lead, but Rhode Island responded with four points and closed out the set to even the match.
• In a back-and-forth third set, Rhode Island took a 3-1 lead in the match, before VCU battled back in the fourth and held URI to a .057 hitting percentage, forcing a deciding set.
• Both teams exchanged points in the fifth set, until a kill from Young sparked the Rams to score five straight points and take a 13-8 lead. URI cut the lead to two, but a handling error and an ace from Aragao secured the 15-10 VCU win, and the opportunity to play in the conference semifinals. 

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• With the win, Janelle Sykes and Cecilia Aragao have now been apart of 85 wins during their careers.
• Last year, VCU played in the Atlantic 10 Championship match.

QUOTABLE

• "Jessica Young was amazing tonight. She really came to play," said head coach Jody Rogers. "Overall this is a nice team win. I'm happy to stay alive and keep playing. Tomorrow we're going to have to be more consistent on that first ball in the back row and play our best game if we want to have a shot at beating Dayton." 

WHAT'S NEXT

• VCU faces top-seeded Dayton in the Atlantic 10 semifinals Saturday. The match is set for 4:30p.m.