RICHMOND, Va. – In a long battle against one of two remaining unbeaten's in Atlantic 10 play, Fordham University volleyball earned an opening set victory, but fell to VCU in a close match, 3-1.
The Rams started off strong and captured an opening set victory before taking VCU well beyond 25 points in set two, nearly outlasting the hosts Saturday before falling 31-29. Set three would see VCU take a close one by the opposite scoreline as the opener, and they would take a win in set four to take the front end of the weekend doubleheader.
With 48 kills as a team, Fordham was led by its usual suspects on the attack, with Whitley Moody drilling a team high 17 kills for the match, just ahead of 15 hammers by Audrey Brown. Elsewhere on the attack Zoe Talabong would tally eight kills, followed by a pair of middle blockers with four kills apiece. Whitney Woodrow would control the offense with 31 assists on the night, ahead of six from Mackenzie Colvin and four from Mallory Lipski
Defensively, Lipski would lead the charge with 28 digs out of 91 total by the Rams, with Moody collecting 19. Woodrow would tack on an additional 16 receptions, while Talabong added 12. With a solo rejection and five block assists, Tatum Holderied would add to her totals with a quartet of kills, while Brown would tally four block assists as well.
Gaining the upper hand out of the gates, the visiting Rams opened with a quick lead, and would then score six of the next seven points to take a 12-4 lead and force a VCU timeout. A 10-5 run the opposite way would see the home side battle back within the frame, getting as close as two, with Fordham fighting hard to keep the lead late. Winning consecutive points to go up 20-16 late, VCU wouldn't get much closer than that, as the visitors captured the opening frame by the same four-point margin.
Exchanging the first 12 points of set two, video review reversed a call to give VCU an 8-6 lead early, but the Rams quickly earned that point back, scoring the next four in succession to pull ahead. The two sides would remain close however, with Fordham taking a 15-14 lead to bring the media timeout in the set, and beyond that neither team would ever lead by more than a handful of points.
Going up by four again late, Fordham held the lead at set point, before VCU battled back into the frame. The hosts thought they had tied the match, but a challenge by Fordham on the play, set the score back to 25-all and forced a win-by-two scenario, where VCU would pull out the win late 31-29.
Set three would see the hosts pull away early, tallying six of the first seven points in the frame, but Fordham despite falling behind managed a run of their own towards the middle of the set to keep things close. Another stretch of points by VCU would give them enough of a margin to pull away 2-1 in the set.
The fourth would see a similar start, but Fordham this time kept the match within reach early on but a pair of runs by VCU would give them what they needed to take game one of this weekend's pair of matches between the two sides.
Fordham and VCU will square off again tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
