MARIETTA, Ga. - Coming off a hot start to the 2021 season, the CIU women's volleyball team would head to the Running Eagles Classic hosted by Life (Ga.) on Friday. In the first match of the day (RV), CIU (3-1) would take on host school (RV) Life (5-0). The Rams would drop match one 3-0. CIU would battle (RV) Ave Maria (3-3) in the second match and lose by the same margin, 3-0.

MATCH ONE: Life 3 CIU 0 (14-25, 18-25, 23-25): The Rams struggled in set one against the Running Eagles but would compete in set two. The Rams fell behind early in the second set but bounced back to tie the game 7-7 on a kill from Kira Rymer off the Kamelia De Jesus set. Life would score next and regained the lead for good, dispatching CIU 25-18 in set two. The Rams had their best chance for victory in the third and final set has they led 22-17 after a De Jesus ace. Life then rattled off five straight to tie the set at 22-22. The Rams would only muster one more point and fell 25-23, dropping the match 3-0. 

Rymer and Cintia Lorena each had five kills for CIU, while De Jesus and Lexabel Rojas combined for 21 assists. Kara Rodriguez recorded 18 digs, while freshman Ingrid Ferrari had three block assists. The Rams defense came up with ten block assists overall while CIU added three aces to their team total.  

MATCH TWO: Ave Maria 3 CIU 0 (21-25, 20-25, 20-25): Set one was tight as the Rams would make a push late in the game as an Abbey Kleist kill cut into the Ave Maria lead, making the score 24-21. However, the Rams would be unable to muster the entire comeback falling 25-21. Set two looked promising for CIU as the Rams led 13-9 after a Kira Rymer kill. However, the Rams were unable to hold the lead and dropped the second set 25-20. The third set would mirror the second as CIU came up short in the match 3-0. 

Kira Rymer led CIU with 12 kills, while Kamelia De Jesus recorded 15 assists. In addition, Ingrid Ferrari was excellent defensively as she notched five block assists. 

What Coach Amber Haver is saying: 
"We faced some tough teams today that required our full attention to compete. We didn't play disciplined volleyball, and it showed on the scoreboard. We have some work to do. Tomorrow is a new day."

Up Next:
CIU will continue to play at the Running Eagles Classic on Saturday, taking on Florida National at 9 AM and Talladega (Ala.) at 5 PM.