Box Score Oct. 1, 2011
Box Score
Philadelphia, Pa. -
Earlier in the season, Fordham volleyball coach Peter Volkert said it was a necessity to get offensive points out of the team's defensive blocking game, and that would be a starting point for the Rams to succeed this season. If Saturday was any indication of what's to come, the Rams have that starting point, as the team registered a team record 21 blocks in a four-set win over Temple in Philadelphia, Pa.
Final set scores were 25-23, 25-21, 18-25, and 25-23. With the win, Fordham improved to 5-11 overall, 2-1 in the Atlantic 10, and won back-to-back games for the first time this season. The loss dropped Temple to 5-12 on the year, 1-3 in the league.
Set one saw Fordham build up a six-point lead at 23-17, before Temple rallied for six straight points to tie the score at 23. The Rams though would get a point on a Temple error and a kill from libero Megan Arend to win the set. It was only the second kill for Arend this season.
In the second set, the score was knotted at 11 before the Rams went on 6-1 run to lead by five, 17-12. In that stretch, the Rams got a pair of blocks from Krissy Buongiorno and a service ace from Mary Diamantidis to highlight the run. That run, plus eight team blocks, set up Rose Diaz-Vazquez to close out the set for Fordham at 25-21 on a pair of kills.
After Temple took the third set, the scoring was tight in set four. With Temple leading 23-22, the Rams tied the score on a kill from Brittany Daulton and then earned match point on Carina Thompson's 10th kill of the match. Appropriately, Fordham won the match on a block by Randi Ewing and Thompson, the team's 21st of the match.
The 21 team blocks by Fordham broke the previous school record of 16.5 blocks, set against St. Peter's in 1997. The Rams had also had 16 blocks in a match three other times.
Individually, Lisa Hipp just missed a double-double with 13 kills, nine digs, and four total blocks, Thompson tied a career-high with 10 kills and set a new career-high with seven total blocks. Ewing and Buongiorno also set new career-highs with 10 total blocks each, tying four other players for the 4-set match record at Fordham.
Diamantidis (17 assists, 12 digs) and Sara Konkel (19 assists, 12 digs) both recorded double-doubles at the setter position with Arend having 13 digs defensively.
The Fordham volleyball team will next be in action on Tuesday, October 4th, when the Rams travel to New Jersey to play Rutgers University at 7:00 PM.
