BRONX, N.Y. – After three straight matches that went the distance, a strong effort by the Fordham University Volleyball team saw the Rams take down George Washington in straight sets Saturday afternoon. Marking the fifth victory in their first six matches at the Rose Hill Gym this season, the Rams improved to 14-7 on the season, and captured their fifth conference win of 2023.
Just as they did less than 24 hours prior, the two sides went toe-to-toe out of the gates, with neither able to manage more than a three point lead at any point in the frame. After Fordham held a slim lead for the majority of the set, George Washington would break away on a quick run to take the lead late, but were quickly answered by the Rams, who rallied back to tie the set at 22-all. Continuing to trade point for point, Fordham would go just beyond the 25-point cap to claim the opener 26-24.
A dominating second stanza would see the Rams rattle off nine of the first 11 points in the period, and would take as much as a 12-point lead during the set. Rolling to a nine point victory in the frame, Fordham rattled off 15 kills in set two, hitting .524 as a team with just two errors on the attack.
Battling back in the third, George Washington took a slim lead after the two sides exchanged the first ten points, but the Rams, having played five set matches the last three times out, would muster a lead of their own a short while later. Going up by as much as four points, Fordham would hold the lead towards the latter stages of the set, but the Revolutionaries put up a fight, tying at 23-all before back-to-back points for the Rams sealed a straight set victory.
"Strategically, it's unique to compete against a team back to back," said Head Coach Ian Choi. "It takes a team of mature competitors to show up on both days. Proud of our entire team especially with the way they handled the line up shifts. Lau and Kenzie stepped up with an elite mindset this weekend."
Hitting .417 in the final period, the Fordham attack hit .333 for the match, committing just 12 errors on 105 total attempts, led by a trio of double-digit attackers. Whitley Moody would lead that group with 13 hammers scattered across the three sets, followed by 10 kills apiece from Zoe Talabong and Audrey Brown. Dishing out 19 assists Whitney Woodrow tossed out the most helpers Saturday as the Rams played a 6-2 offense for a large part of the match, with 15 additional assists coming from Mackenzie Colvin, who tallied her first collegiate double-double with 10 digs as well.
Pacing the receptions was Mallory Lipski with 12 digs, followed by Colvin and then Moody with seven of the Rams' 40 total for the match. On the block Lorenza Rosenkilde led the efforts once again with four blocking assists and one solo rejection, ahead of Talabong with three assists and Brown with two.
With back-to-back conference wins under their belt, Fordham Volleyball will look to keep the momentum rolling in the midweek as they head to Rhode Island Wednesday afternoon.
