NEW YORK – Behind 45 kills and nine service aces as a team Tuesday night, Fordham University Volleyball defeated Rhode Island in straight sets to split the season series with URI.
Three Rams would lead the way on offense, with Whitley Moody leading the way with 13 kills, hitting .379, ahead of 12 kills from Audrey Brown, who hit an even .400 on the night. Lorenza Rosenkilde would tally nine hammers, hitting 467 for the match, while eight different Rams recorded a kill, including Alexa Pyle with two on as many attempts, along with a solo block.
Emma Stammeyer dished out a career high 21 assists, ahead of 17 from Whitney Woodrow who led the Rams with four service aces. Recording two aces apiece would be Moody and Lola Fernandez, with Ryan Naumann adding one of her own along with six digs and three assists. Talabong would collect 11 digs to lead the team, with Moody leading the block with a solo and three assists.
Rhode Island would take control early in set one, taking a 7-3 lead, before seven unanswered points by Fordham put the home Rams up by three. From there, the Maroon and White controlled the remainder of the frame, keeping Rhode Island at bay, and rallied late to stretch a 25-19 win.
Scoring the first point of set two, Fordham would defend a slim lead for much of the set, eventually taking a five-point lead at 18-13. Rhode Island would begin to cut into the home advantage in the latter stages of the frame, but Fordham would hold them off four a 25-20 win to go up two sets.
A back-and-forth third set would see the two sides battle throughout, tying multiple times, with neither side ever trailing by more than two points through to 18-all. A sideout and quick run, including three straight points off Woodrow's serve would put Forrdham ahead 21-19, giving them the cushion they needed to see out a 25-21 win to sweep Rhode Island Tuesday night.
Fordham heads down to Charlotte, N.C. this weekend for a pair of matches at Davidson Saturday and Sunday.
