WELLESLEY, Mass. -- The FDU-Florham volleyball team (15-17, 2-3 Freedom) split their two matches on Saturday, defeating the University of Southern Maine 3-2 (21-25, 25-23, 19-25, 25-17, 15-8) but falling in straight sets to host Wellesley College 3-0 (10-25, 18-25, 12-25) on Saturday at Keohane Sports Center.
Match One:In their first match of the day, the Devils squared off against the host Wellesley College Blue (13-7, 3-4 NEWMAC). The Blue, who won both matches on the day, claimed all three sets against FDU-Florham in comfortable fashion. The Devils struggled to generate offense and finished with a -.085 attack percentage. Freshman outside hitter
Melissa Gaffney (League City, Texas) led the Devils with four kills on 28 attempts and added nine digs.
For the Blue, setter
Maddie Koh handed out 29 assists, while
Brooke Fieldman and
Caitlin Laughlin totaled eight kills apiece.
Match Two:The Devils regrouped and battled in a five-set thriller against the University of Southern Maine (15-11, 0-3 LEC) in match number two. After dropping the first set, the Devils pulled out an exciting second set victory, with sophomore
DeAnna D'Amico (Totowa, N.J.) recording the final kill. D'Amico finished with nine kills in the win.
FDU-Florham fell in the third set but rallied for a 25-17 fourth-set victory to force a decisive fifth. The Devils' momentum carried over as freshman setter Codi-Inloes Williams (Palmer Lake, Colo.) began set number five with a seven-straight points. Following a timeout, the Huskies fought back with five consecutive points of their own.
With the Devils leading 9-8, freshman
Rachel Catena (Flemington, N.J.) served out the match for the win thanks to three kills from Gaffney, one kill apiece from Inloes-Williams and
Kalyn Herburger (Rivervale, N.J.) and an ace.
In the victory, Gaffney recorded a double-double with 21 kills and 14 digs, while
Natalie Knudsen (Chester, N.J.) tallied 11 kills. Inloes-Williams dished out 39 assists in the match and Catena totaled a career-best 32 digs.
Next up for the Devils:FDU-Florham returns to Freedom Conference action this Tuesday, October 21st when they visit Delaware Valley College at 7 p.m.
