Philadelphia, Pa. – The Fordham volleyball team's skid grew to five, largest of the season by two, with a four-set loss at La Salle on Friday night. With the defeat, the Rams fall to 9-14 overall and 2-8 in Atlantic 10 play, while the Explorers improve to 15-9 and 7-3, respectively.
The two schools split the opening frames before the hosts rode an efficient offense to victories in sets three and four. Both sides had nearly identical numbers in attack over those first two frames but La Salle hit .323 and .368 in the final two compared to Fordham's .148 and .237. Fordham committed two more errors on offense than the hosts, 20-18, but were out-hit .273 to .193 and 63-51 in kills.
Senior
Natalie Martinez matched her career-high with 14 kills on 30 attacks (.433 hit percentage) to lead the offense, while classmate
Olivia LaPorta reached a season-high six blocks for a third time this year. The Rams out-blocked the Explorers, 8-1. Junior
Kaitlin Morley tallied her 13
th double-double of the season with 12 kills and a team-high 16 digs.
McKenna Lahr and
Claire O'Neil each notched seven kills, the latter adding a pair of blocks, one solo, and former chipping in nine digs.
Makaela Tanaka missed a double-double by one dig, finishing with 28 assists and nine digs.
Alena Cashdan added 14 digs and six assists.
Fordham is back in action on Sunday at Duquesne. That match, set for 1 p.m., will be streamed on ESPN+.
