Fordham have two more home games before the end of its regular season. Samuel Joseph/The Ram
By Anthony Pucik
After two losses on the road to A-10 opponents, volleyball head coach Gini Ullery cited miscues as one of the main reasons for Fordham’s struggles.
“We had moments of execution and moments of too many unforced errors that do not allow us a chance to be successful,” she said. “If we can limit our unforced errors we allow ourselves the opportunity to be in matches and execute to win.”
With two home matches against new A-10 foes Davidson and VCU, Ullery said the team’s focus heading into the week was “fight to win . . . we are staying focused on our unforced errors, hoping it will correlate to game day.”
The 1-20 (1-6) Rams’ first fight of the week was Friday, Oct. 24, against the 3-14 (1-6) Davidson College Wildcats. Davidson took the lead in the first set 3-1, but Fordham scored nine of the next 11 points to make it 10-5 Rams. The Wildcats brought themselves back to within four, but Fordham strung together two four point streaks and one three point streak on its way to their first set victory in four games, 25-13. In the second set, Fordham and Davidson were deadlocked at 17, but the Rams would finish on an 8-4 run to take the set 25-21 and go up two sets to none.
Davidson avoided the sweep in the third set, scoring the first five points in the set and taking it 25-17. The fourth set was much different, with the score 12-11 Fordham midway through. The Rams then made it 15-11, but the Wildcats’ 7-2 run gave them an 18-16 advantage. Fordham and Davidson exchanged two and three point streaks back and forth until the set was tied at 26. The Rams scored the next two points and went on to win the set 28-26 and the match 3-1, giving them their second win of the season and in conference. Junior Brianna O’Neil led Fordham with 18 kills, junior Abigail Konovodoff had 38 assists and freshman Molly Oshinki led with 20 digs in her strongest match of the season.
Fordham’s next match was on Sunday, Oct. 27 against the 12-10 (5-3) VCU Rams. This match did not go as well for the hometown Rams. VCU led the first set 13-12, but started to pull away after that, taking the set 25-21. Fordham had a 7-5 lead in the second set, but VCU’s 12-7 run put them ahead 17-14. Fordham would only score one more point in the set, losing 25-15 and going down two sets to none.
VCU continued its run into the third set, going up 12-3. Fordham brought itself back to within four, but couldn’t pull the set back to a tie. VCU took the third set in the same score as the second, 25-15 and completed its sweep. Junior Brennan Delsing had nine kills for Fordham and Konovodoff added another 20 assists and eight digs.
The loss dropped Fordham to 2-21 on the season and 2-7 in conference play. The Rams will go back on the road this weekend, taking on A-10 rival La Salle on Halloween night at 7 p.m. and then Duquesne on Sunday, Nov. 2, at 1 p.m.
__________
Anthony Pucik is the Assistant Sports Editor for The Fordham Ram.
