NEW YORK – Trading point for point and set-for-set through four Saturday afternoon, neither side would give an inch in the final frame, as Fordham University Volleyball stormed back to claim a five set victory over George Mason at the Rose Hill Gym.
A thrilling match all the way through, the Patriots would take set one by six points, and nearly took a 2-0 lead before Fordham snuck back late to take a 25-23 win and bring the match to a best of three. George Mason would take the third set in convincing fashion, but the Rams would do the same in the following set, winning by 11 points to force a winner take all fifth set.
That final stanza saw the teams bring the fight from the first point to the last, with Fordham tying the match at 14-all, the first of three straight points to seal their first win in Atlantic 10 Conference play this season. Behind another stellar performance from Whitley Moody, the new program kills leader continued to extend that number, in her first game since breaking the previous mark Wednesday, rattling off 18 of the Rams' 37 kills on the night.
Fordham's defense stood tall against a George Mason team that's one of the top attacking teams in the nation, holding them to a .169 percentage on the afternoon and totaling 12 blocks. The block would be led by both Lorenza Rosenkilde and Sophia Kuyn who each tallied a solo block and five block assists, leading seven players who contributed at the tape Saturday.
Rosenkilde would finish behind Moody with five kills, with six of those seven each tallying at least three kills, while setter Whitney Woodrow would tally a single kill, while dishing out 28 of 35 assists, and notching the Rams' lone double-double with a team-high 20 digs. Fordham would tally 78 digs over the course of the match this afternoon, tied for the second most in any match this season, also highlighted by a career-high 16 digs from Lola Fernandez at the libero spot, and 12 from Zoe Talabong.
A quiet start to the match saw the teams tied at 7-all, at which point the visiting Patriots would march forward in the frame, going on an extended run through the media timeout. Building a seven point gap at 18-11, the Patriots would use that lead to keep their distance from the Rams through the remainder of the frame, winning 25-19.
After Fordham opened with a quick 5-1 advantage in set two, George Mason would answer right back even the score at 7-all once again, and would take a four point lead, quickly reeled in by the Rams, who tied it back at 12-apiece. The two would keep things close from there, with the Patriots defending a 1-2 point advantage most of the way. Down three at 22-19, Fordham would rattle off seven of the final eight points in the frame, drawing level at 22-all, and allowing just one point before taking a 25-23 win to tie the match.
A lopsided affair the next two periods, George Mason would tally the first point of the set and never look back, leading the entirety of set three. Taking a 10-3 lead early on, the Patriots would garner as much as a nine point lead, on the way to a 25-16 win to put the pressure back on the Rams.
Fordham would handle that promptly with a dominant performance in the fourth set, as they would lead from start to finish in the frame, with just one tie, that being just the first two points of the period to make it 1-1. The Maroon and White wouldn't relinquish their lead the rest of the way, building as much as a 12-point lead at one point, and cruising to a 25-14 win to force a final set.
Neither team would give way in the final sprint to the finish, a set that would see five ties and three lead changes, the most of any set Saturday afternoon. Posting four of their 12 team blocks in that final stanza, Fordham would pull even at six-apiece, before George Mason looked to break away with a four point advantage at 13-9. A key sub off the bench late by the Rams saw four straight points off the serve of Ryan Naumann bring her side back to within one, and after facing set point, Woodrow and Rosenkilde would stuff the Patriots attack to send the match to extra points, where Fordham would take the win 16-14.
The Maroon and White will look to sweep the series with George Mason tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 p.m. in the Rose Hill Gym.
