Women's Volleyball Falls to Lehigh in Three Sets

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BRONX, N.Y. -- The Fordham women's volleyball team dropped its final nonconference match of the regular season Tuesday night in three sets to Lehigh inside the Rose Hill Gym. With the loss, the Rams fall to 8-15 on the season, while the Mountain Hawks improve to 12-9 overall.

Freshman Natalie Martinez led the way on offense with 12 kills, while fellow classmate Breanna Jones almost collected a double-double with eight kills and a team-high 12 digs. Senior Brennan Delsing added 11 digs, and sophomore Emily Fronk also just missed a double-double with 29 assists and eight digs.

With the first set tied at 4-4, the visitors increased their lead out to four at 10-6, before moving the advantage out to 13-8. After a kill from senior Brianna O'Neil sliced the deficit to three, Lehigh tallied four straight to move out in front by a score of 17-10.

The Rams then made a move, as a Jones' kill started a 7-1 spurt, which ended with another kill from her that cut the Lehigh lead to one at 18-17. Still trailing by one at 19-18, the Rams saw the Mountain Hawks score three of the next four to increase its lead to 22-19.

Fordham crawled back to within two on three different occasions, but it was not enough, as Lehigh took the first set, 25-22, for a 1-0 lead.

The Mountain Hawks led 6-3 early on in the second set, before four straight points, capped by two kills from junior Kristen Ostach and one from sophomore Sarah Skelton, produced a 7-6 Ram advantage.

After Lehigh regained the lead, the match would be deadlocked six times. With the score all tied at 14-14, the Mountain Hawks used a 6-2 flurry to take a three-point lead at 19-16. However, Fordham quickly responded, and a Skelton kill once again tied the set at 19-19.

Lehigh moved back in front by two at 21-19, and Fordham again answered with three straight, as a kill from Martinez put the Rams in front, 22-21. After Lehigh tallied three in a row to get to set point, Martinez delivered back-to-back kills to tie the set at 24-24. But the visitors were able to tally the final two points to clinch the set, 26-24, for a 2-0 lead.

Fordham held five leads very early in the third set, with the last one coming at 6-5. The Mountain Hawks then scored seven of the next eight en route to a 12-4 run that gave them a 17-10 lead.

The Rams got as close as five, but Lehigh was able to take the third set, 25-18, and the match, 3-0.

Fordham returns to action Saturday, Oct. 17 when it travels to Kingston, R.I. to take on Rhode Island in Atlantic 10 play. First serve is slated for 5 p.m.