Volleyball Sets Two Program Records in Season-Opening Loss to St. John's

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Bronx, N.Y. – After waiting 451 days since its last match inside the Rose Hill Gym, the Fordham volleyball team returned to its home court on Wednesday evening against reigning Big East champion St. John's. The Rams stormed out to a one-set lead and finished with two separate four-match program records, but ultimately fell to the Red Storm, 25-20, 20-25, 10-25, 26-24, all without the team's two liberos.
 
"Keeping it in perspective, it's amazing that we had the opportunity to compete tonight in the first place. I'm grateful for our support staff, administration, and tonight's referees. It was great to be back." Head coach Ian Choi remarked, "That said, there was no better way to start 2021 than competing against the reigning Big East champions. They gave us an opportunity to compete at a very high level and I'm very proud of our freshmen for stepping up like ballers in their first collegiate match. It's just unfortunate that Izzy [Fichtel] set a record in her first-ever match because that means that she's already peaked and it's all downhill from here. Ken [Lahr] did an amazing job stepping up as libero for the first time ever. I think it speaks volumes for our team that we were able to rally despite such last-minute changes to our lineups. I'm excited to see what's in store for us the rest of the season."
 
The opening set was a joint block party, with St. John's six team blocks outdone by Fordham's nine. The Red Storm made 11 errors in attack to the Rams' seven as the frame saw 11 ties and five lead changes. Efrosini Alexakou began the contest off with a kill but gave the Rams the point right back with a service error, the latter's first score of the year. The team's first offensive kill of the year came two points later on an Aria De La Rosa kill. That kill started a 6-1 stretch that led to St. John's burning its first timeout, capped by a Bella Ureña hit. The lead for either side never grew more than two until late. Fordham finished the set on a 6-1 run, started by a Ureña kill and followed by a block from Isabel Fichtel and Megan Brzozowski, leading to a St. John's timeout. The break didn't stop the run, though, as Fichtel solo-stuffed Rachele Rastelli and then picked up a kill on the next point. A pair of attack errors rounded out the frame. All told, five different Rams had at least two blocks and six had between one and three kills.
 
The second set saw more back-and-forth action with similar numbers on either side, however, the Red Storm tallied five aces which proved to be the difference in the frame. The Johnnies used a 4-1 run midway though the set to force a Fordham timeout and never relinquished the lead, though the hosts would get within one on two occasions. Down, 16-12, the Rams rallied 5-2, but the visitors pulled away after that and coasted to a third set victory.
 
The final frame saw 11 ties and two lead changes with Fordham leading mostly throughout. The Rams forced two early timeouts by starting things off with a 7-3 run and using a 5-1 run later on to lead by five, 14-9, but both times the breaks worked for the visitors, who rallied to get within striking distance. The two schools traded points from 20-19 onward until a block and a Fordham attack error pushed St. John's ahead for the victory.
 
The Rams stood out on defensive Wednesday, recording a four-set school record with 20.0 total blocks, two solo, the most since the 2011 Rams tallied 21.0 at Temple in October of that year. It's also the most since 2018 when the Rams set the five-set record with 17.5 at home against Rhode Island. Five different Rams finished with at least five blocks, including a career-high eight for Brzozowski. Fichtel, meanwhile, made her debut in style with 12 blocks, one solo, finishing two ahead of the previous record that was shared by six others and one behind the single-match record shared by Marija Markovic in 2006 and current teammate Chloe Pejouan in 2019.
 
Offensively, freshman Whitley Moody also dazzled in her collegiate debut, recording 14 kills on 44 attempts, hitting .250, with eight digs and five blocks. Lahr, playing at libero, racked up 20 digs, while Ureña totaled a career-best 17. Brzozwski, who had 27 assists and 13 digs, plus a personal-best five kills, finished just two blocks shy of a triple-double, beating her previous block benchmark by five. Ureña also added nine kills, while Joey Landeros chipped in five and De La Rosa and Fichtel each had four.
 
The Rams' two scheduled contests at La Salle this weekend have been postponed so their next contest will come in nonconference action at Hofstra on Saturday, February 13, at 4:30 p.m.