Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham volleyball team fell in five sets to La Salle on Sunday afternoon, 25-19, 16-25, 25-21, 12-25, 7-15. With the loss, the Rams fall to 9-13 overall and 2-8 in Atlantic 10 play, while the Explorers improve to 12-11 and 6-5, respectively.
The Rams took sets one and three but succumbed to a late charge by the Explorers. Fordham took an early 5-2 lead in the opening frame but saw four straight kills by La Salle, prompting an early timeout from head coach
Ian Choi. Out of that break, the Rams would retake the lead and never trail again in the set although the visitors got within one several times. They closed out the set on a 7-2 run. The Explorers evened things up by never trailing in the second set, closing it out with a 7-0 run after the hosts had gotten within one, 18-16, via a
Joey Landeros kill.
Fordham rallied several times in the third frame; down 7-3, the first one came with three straight points through a kill by Landeros, one by
Elise Benjamin, and an ace from
McKenna Lahr, putting them one point back. Down four, 13-9, the Rams rattled off four straight points to tie things up but the visitors pulled away again with a pair of points. Fordham rallied again, this time for good, with a quartet of points, three straight by Lahr and one from Benjamin, making it 17-15. La Salle stayed close but at 21-20, the Rams finished with a 4-1 run, helped by a trio of errors by their opponent.
The Explorers took advantage of an uneven offensive attack in the fourth set, the Rams hitting -.024 in the frame, and committing just four errors of their own while hitting .256. They carried that momentum into the final set, which they never trailed in.
Lahr led the way offensively with 12 kills, followed by
Kaitlin Morley, with nine, Benjamin, with eight, and
Aria De La Rosa, whith seven. The latter hit a team-best .238 in the match.
Megan Brzozowski assisted on 25 points, dug out 11 balls, and racked up a season-high four aces. Benjamin and De La Rosa led the front court with four blocks, the former enjoying two of the solo variety.
Morgan Williams totaled 31 digs in the match, her sixth match of the year with 30 or more, while
Mallory Lipski, who played the final three sets, recorded nine.
The Rams close out the home portion of their schedule on back-to-back days next weekend, first hosting VCU on Friday night at 7 p.m. and then celebrating Senior Day against Davidson on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
