By Anthony Pucik
The 0-15 Fordham volleyball team (0-2 in conference play) returned to the friendly confines of the Rose Hill Gym this past weekend in search of its first win of the season.
The Rams played their first home Atlantic 10 conference game on Friday, Oct. 3 against the 6-8 Duquesne University Dukes who also entered the game with an 0-2 conference road. The first set was tied at seven, but a 15-7 run by the Dukes put the set out of reach. The Dukes won 25-17 to go up a set to none. The second set featured another run by Duquesne, this one early in the set to put them up 14-4. The Rams clawed their way back to within six, but that was as close as they could get once the Dukes took a commanding 2-0 set lead after the 25-13 victory.
The third set featured much of the same for Fordham. Duquesne’s 14-3 run gave it an early advantage that it never relinquished. Fordham cut the lead to seven but would not come closer as Duquesne improved to 7-8 on the season (1-2 in conference play) and Fordham dropped to 0-16 (0-3 in conference play) after its seventh straight game without a set win. Graduate student Lisa Hipp led the Rams with 13 kills in the match, while junior Abigail Konovodoff had 16 assists and junior Brianna O’Neil put up five digs.
Fordham’s next match was Saturday, Oct. 4 against the 6-13 (0-3) La Salle University Explorers, another A-10 opponent. The Explorers had a much harder time pulling away from the Rams than Duquesne did, but did have a 20-17 lead late in the opening set. The Rams took a timeout to regroup, and it paid off. They went on an 8-4 run to take the first set 26-24, their first set victory in seven matches.
“We showed the type of team we were at the end of the first,” head coach Gini Ullery said. “Energy level, competing totally 100 percent into the match is something we’ve been stressing and that was so important and the girls did a great job at it.”
And Fordham did not look back from there. The Rams gained an 8-3 lead in the second set and never relinquished it. They won the second set 25-21 and opened up a 7-2 lead in the third set. They swept the Explorers with a 25-14 victory in the third set. O’Neil led a balanced Fordham attack with 12 kills, Konovodoff added 19 assists and junior Grace Muller had eight digs.
“I think it was a long time coming,” Ullery said of the 1-16 (1-3) Rams’ victory. “The girls work hard, they compete. We do everything we need to do. Tonight was the first night we all put it together.”
The Rams’ next A-10 matchup is Saturday, Oct. 11 at home against the University of Rhode Island at 5 p.m.
“Hopefully, we’ll just keep rolling,” Ullery said. “We’re playing it match for match day for day. Rhode Island is going to be a tough team, but we have to come out and play our game to give us a chance to win.”
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Anthony Pucik is the Assistant Sports Editor for The Fordham Ram.
