Montclair, N.J. (August 30)- The FDU-Florham volleyball team (0-1) opened their 2024 season in the first game of the weekend at the Montclair State Quad-Match and fell in their season opener to UMASS Dartmouth, 3-0 on Friday evening.
 
Lilli Nawrotzki (Flemington, N.J.) contributed 15 assists in her first game setting as well as six digs and an ace. The Devils also saw nice career debuts from Genevieve Fitch (Charleston, SC), who led the team in kills with six and compiled seven digs and Tayla O'Connor (Roxbury, N.J.), who led the team in digs with 11 and notched four kills.
 
The duo of Kate Wade and Olivia Suetter made the difference today for the Corsairs as they accounted for 30 of the teams 48 kills with 15 each.
 
Set One: UMASS Dartmouth jumped themselves out to a 7-2 lead early before a back-and-forth contest saw them take a 13-6 advantage. Fairleigh Dickinson fought back with four straight points on kills from Mackenzie Crandall (Shrewsbury, Mass.), Gabbie Hart (Cherry Hill, N.J.) and O'Connor as well as an ace from Nawrotzki to cut the lead to 13-10. After a pair of kills from Wade and Suetter for Dartmouth and a kill from Arianna Wood (Wayne, N.J.), the Corsairs controlled the set the rest of the way with 10 straight points to take set one, 25-11.
 
Set Two: Dartmouth once again jumped out to a 7-2 lead at the beginning of the set and after Wood collected another kill for FDU-Florham, the Corsairs scored four straight to command an 11-3 advantage. Despite three set kills from Jada Everett (Hackensack, N.J.) and kills from Wood and Hart, the Devils were never able climb back after the early hole and Dartmouth eventually won set two, 25-14.
 
Set Three: The Devils jumped out to their first lead of the matchup with three kills early from Fitch, O'Connor and Hannah Weinmann (Monroe Twp., N.J.) to hold a 3-1 edge. The Corsairs battled back with four straight points before another kill from Fitch halted the run but put the score at a 5-4 UMASS advantage. Dartmouth held an 8-5 lead before another kill from Fitch sparked a 6-1-point run that included kills from O'Connor and Crandall and a service ace from Rachel Reiter (Riverside, Calif) to give the Devils an 11-9 advantage. After each team exchanged two points, UMASS Dartmouth retook the lead with five straight points for a score of 16-13. The score stood at 18-16 Dartmouth before the Corsairs put together a 4-0 run to make the score 22-16. Two kills from Reiter, a kill from Fitch and an attack error, cut into the lead for the Devils, 22-20 but the Corsairs finished off the match sweep with three straight points to seal the deal, 25-20.
 
FDU-Florham will head back to Montclair, N.J. to round out the quad-match slate tomorrow, September 1 with a 3:00pm showdown against Vassar and then a 5:00pm matchup with the hosting Red Hawks.
 
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