Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Fordham volleyball team kept pace with Duquesne throughout most of Sunday's match but ultimately fell in straight sets by a combined seven points, 25-23, 25-22, 29-27, in its second-to-last true road contest of the regular season. With the loss, the Rams fall to 2-9 in Atlantic 10 action and 9-15 overall, while the Dukes improve to 6-5 and 12-12, respectively.
The two schools traded leads for much of the opening set. Duquesne took the lead for good, 17-16, although the deficit never grew beyond three just one time, 20-17, as the Rams rallied to get within one once again. The two teams traded points from that point on, which was enough for the Dukes to secure a 25-23 win.
Set two was just as close. After Fordham took the lead, 11-10, each team went on a 4-0 run. The Dukes retook the lead and pushed the lead to three, 14-11, but the Rams answered with four unanswered of their own to get back on top, 15-14. Fordham led, 19-17, following kills from
Kaitlin Morley and
Claire O'Neil, and, 21-20, after an
Olivia LaPorta kill, but the Dukes rallied with three consecutive kills to retake the lead and hold on for a 25-22 win.
Fordham led by as much as five but the Dukes weathered the storm and kept pace with the Rams despite the visitors leading late on several occasions. The Rams, facing a match point, 24-23, got a second chance on a Duquesne attack error, and
Joey Landeros smacked home a kill to give the visitors a set point. Duquesne broke through with two straight points, however, forcing the Rams to do the same, using a Morley kill and a Summer Slade error to lead, 27-26. The Dukes rallied again and this time did so with three straight points to take the match.
McKenna Lahr led the way offensively with 12 kills, sharing the match-high, and added six digs, three blocks, one solo, and an assist.
Natalie Martinez and Morley each chipped in eight kills and Landeros finished with six.
Sophia Plett and
Makaela Tanaka each had 18 assists in running the offense.
Morgan Williams finished with a match-high 18 digs to lead the defense. LaPorta paced the Rams in blocks with four. Williams now has 1,160 career digs, fifth-most all-time in school history. Her current 4.22 digs per set pace this season would break the single-season program record of 4.10 set by Jenn Shea in 1994, and her career 3.87 digs per set rate currently tops the all-time list by .41 over Stephanie Frost ('07).
The Rams have one final true road contest of the regular season next Saturday at Rhode Island. That match is set to begin at 6 p.m. with only live stats available for coverage.
