Volleyball Starts Season Off with Comeback Win Over Lehigh

Box Score
 
New Britain, Conn. – The Fordham volleyball team got its 2016 campaign started with a bang by coming from behind and defeating Lehigh, 3-2, in the first game of this weekend's Blue Devil Classic up in New Britain, Conn., the home of Connecticut State. It was a display of Fordham's depth and youth in equal parts as five underclassmen started the match, including four that were making their Rams debut. Fordham took the five-setter, 23-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-21, 15-5, and begin the year 1-0, while the Mountain Hawks start out 0-1.
 
"We started out a little nervous but we continued to show our potential," head coach Gini Ullery said after the win, "We took care of the ball in serve receive and that gave us lots of opportunities to score and the girls took advantage of it."
 
Alongside returning starters Kristen Ostach and Breanna Jones, five new Rams made their debuts in the starting lineup: sophomore transfer Maddy Walsh, and true freshmen Olivia Fairchild, Kaitlin Morley, Elise Benjamin, and Morgan Williams at libero.
 
The match's first point, and Fordham's season's, started with a Lehigh attack error but the "home" team would jump out to a 4-1 lead thereafter. The Rams played the Mountain Hawks close most of the first set, even taking two leads at 14-13 and 15-14, but Lehigh took a three-point lead thanks to a trio of Fordham attack errors and eventually grabbed the first set, 25-23. Morley led the Rams with seven kills and four digs in the first frame.
 
The Rams took several three and four-point leads in the second frame, leading throughout, and evened up the match at one apiece. Fairchild added five kills and two aces in the second set as both Ostach and Benjamin notched their first solo blocks of the season. Fordham jumped out to a 9-5 lead in the third set but allowed the Mountain Hawks to even things up due to several errors. The Rams made eight errors in the frame alone, a match-high for them, and Lehigh capitalized by taking a 2-1 set advantage after a 22-22 tie became a 25-22 set win.
 
Fairchild broke out in the fourth set, leading the way with seven kills in 10 attempts, including three aces, as the Rams controlled the majority of the frame. Leading 15-14 at one point, the Rams finished with a flurry, bumping their lead up to seven, 22-15, at one point. Lehigh battled briefly but Fordham would force the fifth set, 25-21, ending with Breanna Jones' 11^th kill of the night.
 
Feeling the momentum and the opportunity to start the season with a win, the Rams dominated the final set. Fairchild began with two kills, Jones added two aces, and several errors led to an 8-0 lead. Fairchild and Morley got the Rams to within one with four combined kills before Jones killed off a Williams assist for the comeback victory.
 
Fordham set match-highs across the board, perhaps most impressively with Walsh's 51 assists. Fairchild notched 23 kills on 45 attempts, while Morley's .407 hitting percentage led all players as she tallied 14 kills to just three errors. Jones also added 12 kills. Williams began her Fordham career with 17 digs, while Morley nearly earned the team's first double-double of the year with eight digs to go with her 14 kills. Fordham as a team notched 11 aces, as well, while defensively Ostach, Morley, and Benjamin all had three total blocks.

"I'm really proud of the resilience, pride, and hard work the team gave all the way until the end," Ullery added, "It's a great way to start the season and we are looking forward to tomorrow's match-ups."
 
The Rams' win was the first to start a season since 2013, Ullery's first in the Bronx. Fordham is in doubleheader action tomorrow in New Britain, first against Iona at 11 a.m., before facing the hosts at 4 p.m. The latter match can be seen live online on NEC Front Row.