University of Massachusets Athletics
University of Massachusetts
Fordham
UMass Volleyball Pulls Out 3-2 Win Over Fordham
October 05, 2001 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 5, 2001
Amherst, Mass. - Despite a poor start, the University of Massachusetts slipped past the University of Fordham, 3-2, this evening at Curry Hicks Cage for their second Atlantic 10 win of the season. The Minutewomen now stand at 8-5 overall and 2-3 in A-10 play. The Rams dip to 5-8 on the season and 0-5 in the A-10.
The Minutewomen opened game one with a devastating -.051 hitting percentage to let the Rams take the game 30-23.
In game two, UMass made some line-up adjustments and brought in freshmen Amanda Thomas (Hemet, Calif.) as setter and Carol Mattos (Petropolis, Brazil) as right side hitter. Thomas dished 16 assists in the game to help lead the Minutewomen to a 30-22 victory. Junior Clare Baxter (Miami, Fla.) recorded six kills in the game and Lauren Vander Veen (Oakland, Calif.) added five as UMass hit for .432.
Game three saw another spurt of poor attacking by the Minutewomen as 11 attacking errors allowed the Rams to slip by with the 32-30 win. Senior Janeen DeMarte (El Paso, Texas) collected five kills in the game to keep UMass close but they were unable to shut down Fordham's offense that hit for .359.
UMass evened the score in game four, with Vander Veen terminating seven kills and Mattos recording four kills. The team hit for .244 while forcing 10 Ram hitting errors for a .023 hitting percentage to gain the 30-23 advantage.
The Minutewomen took a five point lead in game five at the 12-7 mark only to see Fordham battle back to with one at 12-11. UMass sealed the 15-12 victory with kills by Mattos, DeMarte and Lymarie Llovet (Arecibo, Puerto Rico).
UMass finished the match with five players recording double-digit kills. DeMarte and Vander Veen each recorded 17 kills as Baxter chipped in 14, Mattos 13 and Llovet 11. The Minutewomen defense was solid as Llovet collected 18 digs, DeMarte added 16 and Mattos recorded 11. Thomas finished the match with 26 assists and four of UMass' 12 service aces.
Fordham received outstanding play from Roxanne Hill who recorded 22 kills and hit for .447. Beth Crockett had 16 kills and 15 digs on the night and Tiffany Pederson added 10 kills for the Rams.
"I though Amanda Thomas did a really good job helping us get back in the match," said head coach Bonnie Kenny. "Carol played hard tonight and when you play hard, good things happen. Janeen also played well, getting better as the match went on. She started off slow but she played her way back into it.
"We were just awful in the first game," said Kenny. "but the team has had a very tough week that included three deaths, effecting three different team members. I'm just glad we battled back and pulled this one out. We would have put ourselves a a very big hole if we hadn't."
The Minutewomen square off tomorrow, Oct. 6 against George Washington at 7:00 p.m. at Curry Hicks Cage.
