Washington, D.C. - The Fordham volleyball team snapped a three-match slide with a four-set win at George Washington on Saturday night, 25-12, 25-16, 22-25, 25-15. With the win, the Rams improve to 9-9 overall and 2-3 in Atlantic 10 play.
"Great bounce back from yesterday." Head coach
Ian Choi said, "Everything from the ball control to blocking and attacking. What was most impressive was how we responded to our errors. This is by far the most cohesive and selfless team I've coached and it's always a pleasure to compete with them."
The Rams used several runs in their winning sets to gain momentum and carry it to victory, breaking the team's first two-plus match losing skid of the year. Fordham jumped out to an early 15-8 lead in the first set, cruising to an eventual 13-point victory, and five straight points early in the second en route to a nine-point win.
The Colonials bounced back and held the lead for much of the third set, leading at one point, 19-14. Fordham rattled off a 10-3 run to tie the set up but the hosts held on to keep the match alive.
The visitors ripped off a 7-1 stretch out of a timeout at 6-6 in the fourth and bulldozed their way to their second double-digit set win of the night, 25-15.
Key to success for the Rams was their hyper-efficient offense, recording a season-low right errors and a team-wide .356 hit percentage. Leading the way with her third 20-kill effort was
Kaitlin Morley, who matched her career-high of 22, and
McKenna Lahr, with 15. The middle tandem of
Elise Benjamin, with nine kills, and
Claire O'Neil, seven, was also instrumental. Both Morley and Lahr enjoyed their sixth straight double-double.
The team reached double-figure blocks, as well, with Benjamin's seven leading the way, her fifth match in the last six with at least seven. Starting and running the offense with a career-best 49 assists was sophomore
Sophia Plett.
Alena Cashdan also tallied a personal-high 19 digs in her first start at libero.
Fordham remains on the road next weekend for matches at Dayton, on Friday at 7 p.m., and at Saint Louis, next Sunday at 1 p.m.
