Volleyball Splits A Pair At Columbia Invitational

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Coming into the Columbia Invitational having won four of their last five, the Fordham Rams earned a split on the first day of the tournament, falling to Boston College but defeating Binghamton later in the afternoon.
 
Game One
The Boston College Eagles defeated the Fordham Rams in the first game of the Columbia Invitational in straight sets on Saturday afternoon.
 
Senior setter Sara Konkel registered her 2,000^th career assist during the match.
 
Fordham held tough at the start of the first set, trading points with the Eagles before taking the lead at 7-6.  From there, however, the set was all BC.  The Eagles outscored the Rams by a 19-7 margin to close out the first.
 
The second set started much like the first for the Rams, a back-and-forth affair that saw Fordham take an early lead at 7-6.  The Rams would hold onto that lead for a while, even extending it as high as 12-10 before the Eagles began their push.  BC took the lead at 13-12 and never gave it back, winning the set 25-15.
 
Up two sets to none, BC took the third set 25-12 behind an impressive attacking performance, hitting .421 for the set. 
 
Game Two
The Rams' second match of the day ended in a much more favorable fashion for Coach Gini Ullery's squad, as Fordham downed Binghamton 3-1 to earn a split on the day.
 
With her second dig of the third set, senior Maria Rodenberg became just the fifth Ram in Fordham history to reach the 1,000 dig mark for her career.  She had 14 on the day and currently sits with 1,003 for her career, 13 behind Cindy Vojtech for fourth place.
 
Lisa Hipp and Brennan Delsing led the Rams with 19 and 17 kills, respectively.  Sara Konkel tied a season-high with 48 assists.
 
Looking to shake off their loss in game one, the Rams came out strong against Binghamton in the first set, winning it by a 25-21 margin.
 
Binghamton carried over some late first-set momentum into the second, opening an 11-7 lead on the Rams.  Fordham then responded with a run of its own, narrowing the lead to one at 12-11.  The Rams, however, were not able to close the gap over the next several points.  It was not until Fordham tied it up at 18 and then took the lead at 19-18 that the Rams would be on top.  Unfortunately for Fordham, Binghamton uncorked a late rally, taking seven of nine points to win the set 25-21.
 
The Bearcats took a relatively large lead to begin the third stanza, but a 9-1 run from the Rams allowed them to take their first lead of the set at 17-16.  With some newfound momentum, Fordham controlled the rest of the set, putting the Bearcats away 25-20. 
 
With a two sets to one lead, the Rams came out firing on all cylinders in the fourth, opening a large lead midway through the set at 16-10.  Binghamton would make a charge, narrowing the lead to one on two separate occasions, but the Rams prevailed and won the final set 25-20.
 
The Rams will be back in action on Saturday, with a lone match against Columbia slated for noon.