Washington, D.C. – Make that two consecutive thrilling five-set wins in a row for the Fordham volleyball team as the Rams rallied down two sets to one to defeat George Washington on the road on Friday night, including a 10-3 run late to clinch the match. With the win, the Rams improve to 11-14 overall and 4-9 in Atlantic 10 play, while the Colonials fall to 14-13 and 7-6, respectively.
"Best comeback in my coaching career." Head coach
Ian Choi said, "There were so many micro-battles of growth and discovery for our student-athletes that you only get to experience being in the thick of it. It's the purity of these types of moments that help fuel your motivation as a coach. Epic match."
Despite going down a set after the first and third frames, the Rams never wavered and picked up their second straight win and fourth in their last six matches.
George Washington never trailed in the opening set and after a 13-10 lead, never led by less than four points. The Colonials racked up 18 kills at a .275 clip and four blocks. Fordham was much improved out of the break, hitting .500 with 15 kills and just one in attack. The Rams jumped out to an 11-3 lead early on, capped by a solo block by
Elise Benjamin and a kill from
Kaitlin Morley. The visitors built up their lead to double figures and the deficit never dropped less than nine as Fordham coasted to even the match up.
The Colonials went one-up on Fordham in the third using a 9-4 run midway through the frame to take a 21-14 lead and, although the Rams got within five on two occasions, the hosts saw things out. George Washington led, 7-3, early in the second and for much of the fourth set. Fordham took a brief lead, 14-13, following an
Olivia Fairchild kill, a Jaimeson Lee error, and a
Morgan Williams ace. The Colonials responded with three straight points, eventually building up their lead to four, 19-15. Sklaver's serve on the next point found the net, kickstarting a 5-0 run by Fordham. The two schools traded points, with the Rams leading or the score tied, until a pair of GW attack errors gave Fordham a two-point cushion, 23-21. Skylar Iott's kill got the hosts within one but
McKenna Lahr answered with a kill to give Fordham set point. Iott responded with another kill but on the subsequent point, Paty Valle's service error forced a fifth frame.
George Washington took a large six-point lead from 4-4 on with a 9-3 run. The last point, on a Bella Bowman serve, was challenged by the Colonials after it was ruled out of bounds and the review ruled in favor of the hosts. A bad set by Valle gave the Rams the serve with a five-point deficit, 13-8. Fairchild started the run with a kill and
Mallory Lipski tossed up an ace to get within three as George Washington called a timeout. A block by Fairchild and
Aria De La Rosa cut the deficit to two before the Colonials moved to match point via an Iott kill. However, it was Iott with a bad set on the next point that gave Fordham back its serve. Fairchild's soft touch found space behind the front line, prompting a second GW timeout. Out of the break, Iott's attack went wide to tie things up, 14-14. On the next point, Bowman was called for a block error but Iott was able to keep the match alive with a kill. However, Iott's attack on the next point again went wide giving Fordham match point, which it converted via a Lahr kill down the line off a deflection.
Morley led the way offensively with 13 kills at a .312 clip, followed by De La Rosa's 11 and Fairchild's 10. For the freshman middle blocker, it's her fifth double-digit kill performance of the year and second straight. Fairchild, meanwhile, hit a team-high .421 on 19 attacks, adding two blocks and two digs. Elise Bnenjamin added nine kills and four blocks, while Lahr chipped in five kills and 14 digs.
Morgan Williams tallied 26 digs, while De La Rosa racked up a team-high six blocks.
Makaela Tanaka, with 25, and
Megan Brzozowski, with 22, split setting duties. The latter added nine digs, the former eight.
Fordham's regular season finishes tomorrow at George Mason at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.
