Box Score Sept. 30, 2012
Final Stats
Bronx, N.Y. -
After a big Atlantic 10 win over Charlotte on Friday night, the Fordham University volleyball squad knew it would be in for a much tougher match today as the Rams faced the newest members of the conference, the VCU Rams. VCU entered the match with a 14-2 record, winning ten of its past eleven, but Fordham maintained the momentum of Friday night, using 15 kills from Lisa Hipp and 12 from Brennan Delsing to defeat VCU, 3-1, in the Rose Hill Gym.
With the win, Fordham improves to 11-12 overall, 3-1 in the Atlantic 10, while VCU falls to 14-3 overall, 2-2 in the conference. Scores of the sets were 25-21, 18-25, 25-22 and 25-23.
Fordham won the match with defense, limiting VCU to hitting just .203 with Randi Ewing leading the way with eight block assists.
Joining Hipp and Delsing with double figure kills was Ewing, who finished with ten to go with her eight blocks. Sara Konkel recorded her second straight double-double with 48 assists and 12 digs while Maria Rodenberg added 14 digs for Fordham.
The first set opened evenly, with five ties over the first 14 points, the final coming at 7-7 on a VCU attack error. Fordham then scored five of the next seven points to take a 14-9 lead on a Hipp kill off an assist from Sara Konkel. VCU managed to whittle the Fordham advantage to two four times, the final at 19-17. But consecutive kills from Hipp boosted the Fordham lead back to four, 21-17 and the home team went on for a 25-21 win. Fordham hit .355 in the first set with 16 kills.
The second set was a different story for Fordham as the Rams couldn't generate any offense. VCU jumped out to a 6-3 lead and increased its advantage to 14-8 later in the set on a pair of Fordham attack errors. VCU eventually got the lead to as many as ten, 21-11, before Fordham mounted a comeback attempt, scoring six of the next seven points to trim the VCU lead to five, 22-17, following a Kassidy Burgess ace. But that was as close as Fordham would get as VCU outscored Fordham 3-2 the rest of the way for the 25-18 win.
Set three was another closely contested set with five ties, three lead changes and neither team holding more than a four-point lead. The final tie came at 14-14 on a VCU attack error which was followed by back-to-back Delsing kills that gave Fordham the lead for good, 16-14. A Carina Thompson kill followed by another Delsing spike gave Fordham its largest lead of the set, 18-14, but VCU would cut that lead back to one, 21-20, following an Anett Farkas kill. Fordham responded with four of the final five points, winning the set on a Rodenberg kill, 25-22. Fordham hit a sizzling .414 in the set, notching 15 kills.
Fordham took advantage of three VCU attack errors to build a 6-4 lead to open the fourth set but the visitors came back, tying the set at nine on a Jasmine Waters kill. A Fordham attack error then gave VCU a 10-9 lead but a Hipp kill and consecutive VCU attack errors helped Fordham go up, 12-10, a lead they would not surrender. VCU cut the Fordham lead to one three times the rest of the way, the final at 24-23, but Brianna O'Neil notched her eighth kill of the match to win the deciding set for Fordham, 25-23.
The Rams return to action on Saturday, October 6th, as they travel up to Kingston, R.I., to face the University of Rhode Island in an Atlantic 10 match at 7:00 p.m.
