RIVERDALE, N.Y. -- The Fordham women's volleyball team collected its first road win of the season Tuesday night when the Rams made the local trip in the Bronx to defeat Manhattan, 3-1, at Draddy Gym in the "Battle of the Bronx" match. Fordham lost a hard-fought first set, 27-25, before regrouping to claim the final three sets by scores of 25-18, 25-22 and 25-23. With the victory, the Rams match last year's win total and improve to 3-5 on the season, while the Jaspers fall to 5-4 overall.
Fordham used 18 service aces in the match to help its cause, which tied a program record. Freshman
Natalie Martinez led the way with a season-high five, while sophomore
Clarissa Cartledge and freshmen
Breanna Jones and
Olivia LaPorta each added three, with Cartledge setting a new career high and Jones a season best. Rounding out the aces with two apiece was senior
Abigail Konovodoff and sophomore
Molly Oshinski.
Martinez also collected her first career double-double with a team-high 10 kills and 14 digs while tying a season high in blocks with three. Sophomore
Sarah Skelton just missed a double-double with a career-best 20 digs and nine kills, while Konovodoff earned her first double-double of the year with season highs of 38 assists, 14 digs and four blocks.
La Porta also paced the Rams with five blocks and added a season-high seven digs and six kills, and Cartledge added 10 digs and a career-best five assists.
"It was a great battle from both sides of the court," Head Coach
Gini Ullery said. "We really executed on serving tough, which was a focus of ours going into the match.This was a well-fought victory for our young team."
Fordham jumped out to an early 4-2 lead in the opening set, before Manhattan came back to briefly gain its first advantage at 6-5. Trailing 10-9, a kill from Martinez started a stretch of three straight for the Rams, who went back in front at 12-10.The home team once again rallied and tied the set at 12-12 and 15-15, before recapturing the lead at 16-15 and 17-16. But Fordham responded with four in a row, as an ace from Konovodoff gave the Rams the advantage at 20-17.
However, the Jaspers tallied the next three to knot the set at 20-20, but Fordham scored the next two to take a two-point lead. The Rams then led 23-21 and was serving for the set at 24-23, before Manhattan regained the lead at 25-24. Fordham was able to tie it one more time at 25-25, but the Jaspers scored the final two points to take the first set, 27-25.
Trailing 2-0 to begin the second set, a Martinez kill triggered a 9-1 run, as her ace moved the visitors in front for good at 9-3. Leading 13-9, a kill from Oshinski started a 7-1 flurry, with LaPorta's ace extending the advantage to 20-10. In full control, Fordham cruised to the 25-18 victory, ending the set on an ace from Cartledge to tie the match at 1-1.
The Rams led four different times early in the third set, as another ace from Cartledge recaptured the lead at 7-6. But Manhattan responded with four of the next five points to go back in front at 12-10.
However, it would be all Fordham after that. Jones bookended a 7-0 run with a kill and an ace, which gave the Rams the advantage for good at 15-10. Fordham then increased its lead out to six three different times, with the last coming at 19-13 when Martinez delivered a kill.
But the Jaspers did not quit and sliced the deficit to 21-19, before back-to-back Jones' kills and a Konovodoff ace navigated the Rams to set point at 24-19. Fordham fought off three in a row from the Jaspers and clinched the set on a service error for the 25-22 victory and a 2-1 lead in the match.
Manhattan scored the first four points of the fourth set and grabbed a 9-4 lead at the start. The Rams answered by tallying six of the next seven to deadlock the set at 10-10. The run eventually finished at 9-3, as Fordham took its first lead of the set at 13-12.
The lead changed hands seven more times, and the Jaspers inched ahead by two at 19-17. Still trailing by two at 21-19, two kills from Martinez and one from both Konovodoff and Skelton moved the Rams back in front, 23-21.
Manhattan once again tied the set at 23-23, but Martinez clinched the set and the match with a kill and an ace for the 25-23 win and 3-1 victory.
Fordham returns to action this Friday, Sept. 11 and Saturday, Sept. 12 at UMBC's Maddie Bingaman Memorial Tournament. The Rams play the hosts Friday night at 7 p.m., before taking on Morgan State (10 a.m.) and Rider (3 p.m.) Saturday in Baltimore, Md.
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