Volleyball Falls in Five Sets at St. Francis Brooklyn

Box Score

Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. – The Fordham volleyball team suffered a tough five-set loss to St. Francis Brooklyn in the first match of the Terrier/Rose Hill Classic that went down to the final points. With the loss, the Rams drop to 3-2 on the season, while the Terriers improve to 2-4 overall.
 
For the second contest in a row, the Rams took their first set, 25-15, as they did against Manhattan midweek, but the hosts battled back for a 25-18 second set win. Coming out of the long break, Fordham came away with a tight 25-22 third set but couldn't put the Terriers away in the fourth as the hosts tied things up with a 25-19 advantage. St. Francis Brooklyn held a lead for most of the final stanza, as the visitors continued to chip away, tying things up several times, including 14-14 late on an Olivia Fairchild kill. However, a kill and an ace followed and the Terriers picked up their second win of the season.

"We made simple plays harder and we needed to terminate a few more balls," head coach Gini Ullery said after the match, "We battled. Unfortunately, we just let a few too many points get away from us."
 
Fordham's strong first set was evident in the team's .357 hit percentage, with just three errors, compared to the hosts' .120 mark. However, the Terriers rebounded with an impressive team .452 hit percentage in the second set. The Rams mark fell to .200 in the second to .192 in the third and then .156 in the fourth before bouncing back to .261 in the final set. Fordham recorded 53 kills and nine aces, but just six blocks on the afternoon.
 
Reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week Fairchild tied Aleksandra Gligoric's match-high with 18 kills, followed by sophomore captain Breanna Jones' 11 and Kaitlin Morley's nine. Fairchild also added four more aces and has 14 on the year. Senior Kristen Ostach led the way with three blocks that was highest among all but one player, as Niehely Sosa's seven ranked first. Sophomore Maddy Walsh notched 44 asssits, a contest-high by 19, while freshman Morgan Williams' 25 digs paced all players.
 
Fairchild notched her first career double-double with 10 digs, while classmate Morley missed out on her third career double by failing to reach doubled-digit kills for the first time this season, despite tallying a career-high 13 digs. Sophomores Olivia LaPorta and Natalie Martinez saw their first game action of the campaign, with the former netting two kills in three attempts and two blocks, including one solo, on the afternoon.

"This was a great learning experience for this team. It shows our need to grind and execute at a higher rate." Ullery added.
 
The Rams return to the Bronx for a twinbill tomorrow, first hosting NJIT at 11:30 a.m. and then Quinnipiac at 4:30 p.m. Both matches will be streamed live on the A-10 Digital Network.