ST. LOUIS, Mo. – For the second straight match, Fordham University Volleyball triumphantly overcame a two-set deficit to force five frames Saturday afternoon, before falling to Saint Louis in the deciding set.
Whitley Moody would lead the Fordham offense once again with 20 of the teams 58 kills on the night, with the team assisting on 51 of those hammers, led by 43 courtesy of Whitney Woodrow, who tallied just shy of 100 helpers across the two matches this weekend. Elsewhere on the Fordham attack, which hit .202 on the night, Audrey Brown registered 15 kills, and Zoe Talabong added 10. Finding her way onto the stat sheet with her second consecutive start, Lorenza Rosenkilde tallied seven kills in addition to leading the defense at the net with six blocking assists, while Nailah Jenkins added five hammers and five block assists as well.
The Rams managed 11 total blocks for the match, with Moody contributing four block assists, and Talabong and Brown each adding three. In the receiving department, Fordham would tally 74 across the five frames, led by 18 apiece from Moody and Ryan Naumann, who's dig total tonight marks a new career high. Mallory Lipski would tally 16 digs, and Woodrow would tack on 10, followed by nine for Talabong, one shy of a third straight double-double for her.
A closely contested first set saw the Rams and Billikens start the match even after 18 points, before SLU managed a quick run to take a slim lead. The Rams would battle back on two occasions to draw back level, but the Home side would pull away in the closing stages to take the opener by five.
The second period would see a similar story as the first, with neither side giving an inch in the early going, and that run of play would continue throughout the rest of the set. Never separated by more than two points, until 20-17 Fordham late in the frame, before another rally by the Billikens tied the score once more, this time at 13-all. The sides would go into extra points, where SLU would take the win 27-25 to go up by two sets for the second day in a row.
History would continue to repeat itself however, as the Rams rallied as they did a day ago, and after splitting the opening points of the set 9-9, the visitors scored six of the next seven points to pull away with an impressive 14-9 lead. Fordham would continue to rally throughout the set, pushing as much as a seven point cushion, the same margin they would win the set by, taking it 25-18.
Going to the fourth looking to level the score, the Rams rattled off five of the first eight points in the frame, and after SLU managed to tie again a few points later, The Rams would use a similar run as they did the previous set, taking eight of 11 points after tying at nine-all, pushing a 17-12 lead late. Despite the Billikens' best efforts to mount a comeback, Fordham would see out the set by five to force a deciding fifth frame. In the final stanza, SLU would take the lead early, before taking the deciding set by six.
Fordham volleyball is back in action and back in The Bronx this weekend for the first of two straight meetings with George Washington, beginning Friday night at the Rose Hill Gym.
