STAFF WRITER

This past week was not a busy one for the Fordham volleyball team, as it had only one game, but the game it did play was an important one.

On Saturday the Rams hosted Duquesne in the Rose Hill Gym, in an important conference tilt against the Atlantic 10-leading Dukes, but lost 3-1.

Fordham’s first year head coach Gini Ullery spent the past few years as an assistant coach at Duquesne before coming to coach at Fordham.

To add to the excitement of the night, Fordham was celebrating some of the volleyball program’s alumni prior to and during the game. In a special ceremony, members of the program’s 1,000 kill and 1,000 dig clubs were celebrated between the second and third sets. Current senior Maria Rodenberg was a part of the ceremony with the alumni after picking up her 1,000th career dig earlier this season.

Duquesne started the night off right, taking the first set, although the Rams kept it close, losing by only five points, 25-20. The second set was another close win, with the Rams actually pulling out the victory by a score of 25-22. In the third set, Duquesne was the stronger team, winning by a score of 25-12. The Rams kept it close in the fourth and final set, but eventually lost the set 25-23 to lose the game.

Despite the loss, the Rams were still happy with how the game went and walked away with some positives.

“A definite positive is that Duquesne is top of our conference,” said senior setter Sara Konkel. “So the fact that we were able to keep right there with them [was a positive].”

Konkel led the Rams in the game with 50 assists. Lindsey Ritchie led the way with a team-high 13 kills and Brennan Delsing had a team-high 15 digs.

Going forward in conference play, Konkel is excited after how the team played against one of the top teams and is already looking forward to playing Duquesne again.

“Fixing a couple things here and there we could have definitely taken that match, so that’s really good,” Konkel said.  “It’s early in conference and we play them again in about a week and a half.”

The upcoming week gets off to a quiet start for the Rams before they head off on their first conference road trip. On Friday, Oct. 11, the Rams will play Dayton at home. Then on Sunday, Oct. 13, the Rams will travel to St. Louis to take on the Bilikens.

Dayton is currently 7-9 overall and 1-3 in conference play despite coming into the season ranked number one in the Atlantic 10 following four straight conference titles. St. Louis is currently 7-10 overall and 3-1 in conference play.

The Rams are currently 8-11 overall and 1-2 in conference play.