Atlantic 10 Tournament Semifinals

Score: #1 VCU 3, #5 Saint Louis 0 (25-22, 25-15, 26-24)

Location: Richmond, Va. (E.J. Wade Arena at the Stuart C. Siegel Center)

Records: VCU 19-8, Saint Louis 8-20

The short story: VCU used 12 kills from junior Vicky Giommarini and 16 team blocks to propel it past Saint Louis and into the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament Championship Match. The Rams, the A-10's defending champs, will face the winner of Dayton and La Salle on Sunday at noon at the Siegel Center.  

OPENING VOLLEY

• Giommarini hit .333 27 swings to power the VCU offense
• Defensively, the Rams were dominant. VCU recorded seven blocks in the first set alone and finished with 16
• Senior middle blocker Tori Baldwin recorded eight blocks, while junior middle Jasmin Sneed added seven, including a pair of solos, for the Black and Gold
• Junior opposite Gina Tuzzolo also contributed six kills and six blocks for VCU
• Maya Taylor led the fifth-seeded Billikens with 15 kills

THE DIFFERENCE

• VCU outblocked the Billikens 16-3
• The first set was a nip-and-tuck affair, but VCU took command with three straight blocks (two each for Tuzzolo and Sneed) to assume 21-18 lead. The Billikens rallied within 23-22, but a Giommarini kill, followed by a double block by senior Julia Adler and Sneed, finished the job
• The second set swung on 11-1 VCU run that included three Rams' blocks and gave the Black and Gold an insurmountable 20-10 lead

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• VCU advances to the A-10 Championship Match for the third time. The Rams topped Dayton 3-2 in last year's title match. VCU fell to Duquesne in the 2013 A-10 finale
• VCU has previously won four conference championships: Sun Belt - 1984, 1985; CAA – 2005; Atlantic 10 – 2017
• Sneed is nearing another milestone. She needs just four blocks to become the second Ram to record 500 in her career