Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham volleyball team kicked off Atlantic 10 play in style with a come-from-behind homecoming victory in five sets against Rhode Island on Saturday evening. The Rams' defense was a highlight all night long with junior
Elise Benjamin enjoying the team's first double-digit blocking performance since 2011 and the squad as a whole setting a program five-set match record with 17.5 team blocks, plus junior libero
Morgan Williams reaching the 1,000-dig club. With the win, Fordham improves to 8-6 on the year and start conference action with a 1-0 record, while Rhode Island falls to 6-7 and 0-1, respectively.
"We didn't succumb to old habits of starting strong and dropping off for the rest of the match," Head coach
Ian Choi said, "The team showed resilience despite a hiccup in the second and third sets and we rediscovered our offensive identity in the fourth and fifth sets. Most importantly, the team showed heart throughout the match."
Fordham started out hot with one of its best two-way performances in a set this season, hitting at a .520 clip with 14 kills and tallying 12 block assists, including six different players with at least one. The Rams ran away 25-13 victors in the opening frame, a continued theme of taking first sets in the first month of action. Rhode Island countered, however, with one of their best attacking sets of their season, hitting .643 with 20 kills on 28 attacks to even the match up. Rhody got one step closer to the match win with a tight 25-20 victory in set three.
The Rams came alive again in the fourth set with
McKenna Lahr leading the offense with five ills and Benjamin recording six total blocks, one solo, in keeping the visitors in negative numbers in efficiency (-.053). With the fifth set tied, 5-5, Rhode Island forced a Fordham timeout with four unanswered points. The Rams cobbled together a 10-1 run in front of an energetic Rose Hill Gym crowd. The Rams tied the decisive set up, 9-9, with kills from
Kaitlin Morley,
Claire O'Neil, and
Natalie Martinez, and a Rhody attack error then pushed ahead briefly with another kill from Morley. A
Sophia Plett service error tied the game up but Morley came up big with two more kills to push ahead for good. Rhode Island called a timeout but two Rhody attack errors sandwiched around a Lahr kill finished the match.
Including six in the final set, Morley totaled a match-high 15 kills to go with 11 digs and two blocks. Lahr and
Joey Landeros each finished with double-digit kills, as well, with 13 and 11, respectively. Lahr also tallied a double-double, with 10 digs, while Makaela Tanka fell one dig short of one herself, running the offense to the tune of 37 assists; Plett and
Morgan Williams added nine and eight, respectively.
Benjamin finished with a career-high 11 blocks, one solo, setting a new personal best for the second match in a row. It was also the team's first double-digit block effort since Randi Ewing had 12 at Saint Louis in late October 2011.
Williams' 11
th dig of the night was the 1,000
th of her career, becoming the sixth Ram to ever reach the milestone.
The team's 14 attack errors on the night are just the third-fewest of the season and fewest in matches of four or more sets. The offense's .274 attack percentage tonight is the second-highest of the season, to boot.
Fordham remains at home next weekend to welcome Duquesne and La Salle on Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m., respectively. Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+.
