Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham volleyball offense was firing on all cylinders in a three-set sweep of St. Francis Brooklyn to kick off the 18
th Rose Hill Classic, serving up 46 kills at a season-high .366 clip, with just two errors in attack by the four leading Rams on offense, plus a season-high eight aces. With the win, Fordham improves to 3-7 overall, while the Terriers fall to 3-10.
"I'm glad we were able to get the freshmen involved." Head coach
Ian Choi said, "They've been a part of this team and have worked just as hard, if not harder. Stellar offensive performance tonight by the entire team. We're hoping it'll transfer to tomorrow against a tough Providence team."
Between
Whitley Moody (18), Bella Ureña (9),
Joey Landeros (8), and
Isabel Fichtel (7) there were just two errors in attack, both by Moody, with Landeros hitting a team-high .667 on 12 attacks and Moody and Ureña each at .500 and Fichtel at .350. The Rams' sets were nearly identical with 16-15-15 in kills, three errors in each, and between .343 and .394 attack rate. The Terriers committed 15 errors in attack to go with 33 kills, hitting .188 overall.
Megan Brzozowski matched her season-high with three aces, assisting on 32 points and adding four digs and a block, while
Mallory Lipski led the way with 16 digs plus six assists and an ace. Five Rams had one ace. Home Fordham debuts came for all four freshmen with
Audrey Hayes making her overall collegiate debut in the third set.
St. Francis Brooklyn started out well, holding the lead for much of the first set. Fordham put together four straight points to take a 17-16 lead, punctuated by a Brzozowski and Fichtel block, but the Terriers responded with three unanswered. For that point on, though, it was all Fordham. Back-to-back kills by Moody tied the set up at 19 and the Rams rattled off eight straight points to win the set. Aside from an error by Terrier Carla Hernandez, every point was a kill, with Moody notching four of them.
Fordham was in control from the jump in set two, racing out to a 10-4 lead and as much as a nine-point lead, 19-10. The visitors would claw back to get within three eventually, 21-18, but the Rams closed on a 4-1 run after that with three more Moody kills and a
Lauryn Sweeney ace.
The Rams used another mid-set push to overtake the Terriers in the third set, using a 5-0 run to take the lead for good. Fichtel came up with a well-placed kill to an empty spot along the far baseline and Brzozowski came through with an ace to tie the frame up at 14-14. A Landeros kill was the eventual set-winner. After going up seven, 23-16, the Terriers would get within four but kills from Landeros and, fittingly, Moody would see the match out.
The Rams will play one match tomorrow against Providence at 6 p.m., while the Friars and Terriers play at 2 p.m.
