DALLAS, Pa. (September 26, 2018) - The FDU-Florham volleyball team rallied twice before falling in the decisive fifth set to Misericordia Wednesday evening.
The Devils drop to 4-14 on the season, and now are 2-1 in the Middle Atlantic Conference Freedom. Misericordia improves to 10-6 on the season, and also moved to 2-1 in the MAC Freedom. The scores of the match were 25-21, 20-25, 25-16, 17-25, 15-11.
A seesaw first set saw Misericordia pull in front 13-8 after a 8-1 rally. After the Cougars stretched the lead to 19-13, senior
Lauren Harris registered a kill and two aces during a 4-0 run to get the team back to a two point deficit. Despite closing the gap to one after a ball-handling error, FDU fell 25-21 after Misericordia ended with four of the final five points.
Much like the first set, the second stanza had momentum swing back and forth. Misericordia rolled off five straight points to take a big 17-10 lead. With sophomore
Rebecca Morse serving, the Devils battled all the way back and jumped in front 20-18 on a double block by seniors
Marissa Lehnert and
Katie Quinlan. The hosts got within two, but kills from Quinlan and Harris knotted the match at one all.
A pair of Misericordia unforced errors put the Devils in front 14-12 in set three, but Misericordia used a 8-1 spurt to bring up set point. After an attack prolonged the frame, Misericordia took the next point and went in front 2-1. FDU went up 8-3 in the fourth after consecutive kills from junior
Nathalia Padron, forcing the hosts into a timeout. The Devils leveled at the two all thanks to a rejection from Quinlan and Harris.
Harris earned the first point of set five with a kill, and then brought the team within a point at 5-4 thanks to an ace. The team was unable to get any closer than three points, as an unforced hitting error gave the Cougars the five-set win.
Quinlan had six rejections, while Padron tallied team-high 15 digs and nine kills. Harris posted a double-double of 20 kills and 14 digs, as freshman
Kacie Ros handed out 39 assists.
FDU is back in action on Friday, competing at the Worthington Classic in Washington D.C. The tournament will be hosted by Gallaudet University.