Volleyball Sweeps Saint Peter's Wednesday Night

Box Score

Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham volleyball team needed just 75 minutes to sweep the visiting Saint Peter's Peacocks on Wednesday night inside the Rose Hill Gymnasium and improve to 6-5 on the season. With the loss, the Peacocks fall to 0-5 overall.
 
"This was a really good team win," head coach Gini Ullery said after the match, "The girls came out on fire, ready to go, and executed our game plan well. This was a great learning experience going into this weekend."
 
Fordham took down its opponent, 25-12, 25-11, 25-19, with the first two sets each bettering the team's best margin of victory in a set this year. The Rams were very efficient on the evening, hitting a season-high combined .289, and making just 14 errors on the attack on the night, the second-lowest total after this past Saturday's contest against Presbyterian (13). The team recorded just two total blocks on the night but garnered plenty of kills, 40, as the Peacocks also struggled with their receiving.
 
It was a balanced team effort in the first set from the hosts as the two schools traded blows for the first half of action. The Peacocks chipped away at several early leads and got the score to 12-10 before Fordham turned up the intensity and ran away from the visitors. Over the next several minutes, the Rams went on a 13-2 run that including six kills and three aces from three different players. Freshman Olivia Fairchild led all players with five kills on 10 attacks, leading to a .400 hit percentage. Sophomore Maddy Walsh assisted on 10 kills and eight different Rams dug out at least one ball.
 
Fordham jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the second set and never looked back, eventually running the score up to 21-10, before finishing off the set on a 4-1 run. Sophomore Olivia LaPorta notched a team-high five kills in the frame, on six attempts, with Fairchild, Molly Oshinski, Kaitlin Morley, and Elise Benjamin adding two apiece. Junior Clarissa Cartledge came off the bench to tally four service aces in the set alone, finishing with a career-high five in the match.
 
LaPorta, Fairchild, and Morley each killed four points in the final set as the Peacocks played the Rams tougher throughout. The visitors kept the lead from going beyond five points until the very end, with the scored tied 21-18, as the hosts finished on another 4-1 run to close things out for the team's second straight win.
 
Saint Peter's led three times in the match, scoring the first points of the first two sets, and taking a 2-1 lead in the second set, but Fordham controlled the match the rest of the way.
 
LaPorta's 11 kills matches a career-high set last season, while her .600 attack percentage represents a personal-best by far. She was joined by Fairchild's own 11 kills and personal-best .381 clip. Sophomore Maddy Walsh continues to pad her lead atop the Atlantic 10 standings with 37 more assists on the night. Five different Rams had at least four digs, with freshman libero Morgan Williams leading the way with 12.
 
The Rams travel to the island of Manhattan this weekend for the Lion Invitational, hosted by Columbia University, and also featuring Hartford and Providence. First up will be the Hawks on Friday afternoon at 5 p.m.