STEPHENVILLE, TEXAS - FDU women's volleyball (1-2) defeated ULM (0-2) and fell to Northwestern State (2-1) in back-to-back five-set matches on the second day of the Texan Invitational, hosted by Tarleton State. Head coach David Nguyen recorded his first career victory in the opening match of the day.
 

Set One

• FDU overcame a slow start in the beginning, falling behind five points from the start but later found their momentum.
• The Knights came back from a five-point deficit to close the gap (16-16), forced a ULM timeout and took the 17th point.

Set Two

• Set two was a high-intensity battle full of long rallies throughout the entire game ending in favor of ULM 31-29.
• FDU played smart by constantly changing the pace of swings and strategically tipping in defensive holes.

Set Three

• FDU had a great start to set three getting a good seven-point lead and forcing two ULM timeouts at 12-20 and 13-20.
• The Burgundy and Blue took advantage of their lead when Kylie Nott and Giorgia Vaschetti were swinging hard with five kills each.

Set Four

• FDU took advantage of the ULM hitting errors (4), service errors (2) and ball handling errors (2).
• Seeking to pickup their first win of the season, FDU closed the gap and pulled ahead 21-20 but fell short to finnish the set 25-22, allowing ULM to push the contest to a fifth set.

Set Five

• Kylie Nott ended set five in the middle of a team huddle after crushing a ball to the back corner from the middle and finished the game with 15 kills.
• Sophia Rampazzo finished with 14, Tatijana Fucka (10) and Allegra Rivas had a total 21 digs.
• The Knights went on to win the fifth set 15-12, clinching their first victory of the season.

Set One

• Carrying over momentum from the win against ULM, Nguyen's Knights started off strong in the first set against Northwestern State with a seven-point lead (18-11).
• FDU let Northwestern State close-in on their lead near the very end but was still able to finish it off 25-23.

Set Two

• The second set was a game of long rallies that resulted in big kills for both teams.
•  FDU held a seven-point advantage for most of the set and let the Demons back in the game only to pull it out and go up 2-0.

Set Three

• Coming out of the break, the Knights needed to shake off six service errors.
• The Knights powered through to play a close game against the Demons who fought tooth and nail to take the match to 5 sets.
• FDU would drop the set 27-25.

Set Four

• After a rough stretch, Nguyen called timeout and the aftermath was two-straight FDU points.

Set Five

• FDU started slow out of the gate in the fifth and final set of the day.
• The side played nervous but Sofia Rampazzo was able to get another two kills down the line to change the game in favor of the Knights.
• The Northwestern block was hard to beat in the final set and the Knights' effort fell just short, 15-9.

"I am so proud of our team and how hard we fought to pull out a win," said Knott. "I love how we stayed aggressive throughout the game and kept swinging hard no matter the score"

"That was a tough two five-set matches," commented Nguyen. "Unfortunately, we did not pull them both out but I thought our team played hard and battled. Kudos to Northwestern State for staying relentless. We will learn from this and get better."
 

FDU heads to the Rose Hill Classic next weekend hosted by Fordham. The Knights will face the Rams, Niagara and Penn in the two-day event beginning on Friday, September 11 at 11 a.m. against the hosts.

Connect with the Knights on Twitter and Instagram, @FDUKnightsWVB.