Robert Morris Box Score | Fordham Box Score

Bronx, N.Y. - The Georgetown University volleyball team dropped a pair of matches on Friday, falling to Robert Morris, 3-1 (25-19, 25-23, 18-25, 28-26), and Fordham, 3-2 (25-17, 18-25, 13-25, 25-21, 15-13). Both matches were played on Fordham's campus as part of the Rose Hill Classic.

Robert Morris 3, Georgetown 1 (25-19, 25-23, 18-25, 28-26)... Alyssa Sinnette (Pearland, Texas/Dawson) had a match-high 20 kills, along with 21 digs. Liv King (Ardmore, Pa./Lower Merion) and Symone Speech (Oak Park, Ill./Oak Park-River Forest) were also in double figures with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Kenzie Higareda (Woodbridge, Va./Forest Park) led the defense with a match-high 23 digs and Paige McKnight (Atlanta, Ga./Dunwoody) contributed 40 assists.

The first set was tight early as neither team could pull away. With the scored tied, 13-13, Robert Morris used three-consecutive points to take a 16-13 lead. The Hoyas closed to within two, 17-15, but the Colonials closed on an 8-4 run -- despite kills from McKnight, Sinnette and Somto Egbuonu (Grand Prairie, Texas/South Grand Prairie) -- to win the opening set, 25-19.

GU trailed 5-1 early in the second set but fought back, behind four kills from Speech, two apiece by King and McKnight and one from Sinnette, to tie the score at 15. A dual block by Speech and McKnight and kills from Speech and Sinnette kept the score tied at 20, but Robert Morris scored three of the next four points to take a 23-21 lead. Out of a Georgetown timeout, kills from King and Sinnette knotted things back up at 23, but the Colonial s scored the final two points to win the set, 25-23, and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

The Hoyas again fell behind early in the third set. Trailing 15-11, a kill from Williams sparked a 10-1 run that gave the Blue & Gray a commanding 21-16 lead. Speech led the charge with three kills and teamed with McKnight for a big block. Sinnette added a pair of kills and Ashlie Williams (Los Angeles, Calif./Marymount) closed out the run with another kill. With the score 22-18, kills from Sinnette and Williams, and a dual block by Egbuonu and Sinnete gave GU the set victory, 25-18, to cut the deficit in the match to 2-1.

In the fourth set, the Hoyas came out swinging, opening up a 15-5 lead. The run was spurred by four kills from Sinnette, two by King and Egbuonu, one from Speech, service aces by from Williams and Sinnette and another dual block, this time by Speech and King. Robert Morris, however, fought back to tie the score at 20. Kills from Sinnette and McKnight, and a Colonials' attack error gave the Hoyas a 23-21 lead and another Robert Morris error gave GU set point, 24-22. However, the Colonials scored the next three points to give themselves match point, 25-24. Consecutive kills from McKnight and Sinnette turned the tables once again, forcing Robert Morris to take a timeout with the Hoyas ahead, 26-25. Out of the timeout, the Colonials scored the final three points to win the set, 28-25, and the match, 3-1.

Fordham 3, Georgetown 2 (25-17, 18-25, 13-25, 25-21, 15-13)... Speech led Georgetown with 15 kills while Sinnette and King were also in double figures with 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Speech also added six blocks while Williams contributed five. Higareda finished with a match-high 24 digs while McKnight led all players with 39 assists.

In the first set, Fordham jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but the Hoyas chipped away, cutting the deficit to one three different times. A King service ace pulled GU to within one, 5-4 before the Rams rebuilt its three-point lead, 7-4. Back-to-back kills by Sinnette made it 7-6 before, with the score now at 9-6, another Sinnette kill cut Georgetown's deficit to 9-8. Fordham, however, would this time answer with an 11-4 run to take a commanding 20-12 lead. The Hoyas fought off three set points, on another kill by Sinnette and consecutive aces from McKnight, before Fordham took the opening frame, 25-17.

GU built off of its late run in the first set to open a 6-3 lead early in the second set. King had two kills and Sinnette added yet another to lead the run. Fordham came back to tie the score, 6-6, and the two teams remained knotted until a 3-0 run by the Hoyas broke a 14-14 tie. McKnight, Egbuonu and Sinnette all had kills to fuel the charge. After a Fordham point, Georgetown answered with a 6-1 run to take control of the set with a 23-16 lead. Two kills from Speech, one each by King and Sinnette and a dual block from Egbuonu and Williams sparked the run. A Fordham error gave the Hoyas a 25-18 set victory and tied the match at one set apiece.

The Blue & Gray came out swinging to start the third set, slamming down six kills and two aces to take a quick 9-4 lead and force a Fordham timeout. Speech had three of those kills while King, McKnight and Sinnette each added one. Lauren Saar (Richland, Mich./Plainwell) and McKnight contributed an ace apiece. Two more aces and a kill from Sinnette helped balloon GU's lead to 14-5 before kills from Williams, King and Speech, and a dual block from Speech and Williams gave the Hoyas an 18-8 advantage. They went on to score seven of the final 10 points of the set to win, 25-13, and take a 2-1 lead in the match.

In the fourth set, kills from Speech, King, Sinnette and Williams helped the Hoyas take an early 7-4 lead. Fordham, however, responded with seven-straight points to jump ahead, 11-7. A dual block from Speech and King ended a GU comeback that tied the score at 14 but, after a McKnight kill again tied things at 15, the Rams scored five of the next seven points to take a 20-17 lead. They would not look back, taking the fourth set 25-21 to force a deciding fifth set.

The fifth set started well for the Blue & Gray as Higareda started things off with an ace and King and Speech combined for another block to give the Hoyas a quick 2-0 lead. Fordham came right back, however, with a 6-1 run to take a 6-3 lead. With the score 8-6 at the changeover, in favor of the Rams, Georgetown attempted to come back, pulling within one point on five different occasions. They were never able to complete catch up however, dropping the final set, 15-13.

GU concludes the weekend with a 10:30 a.m. match on Saturday morning against Niagara.

Notes -- Synnette's 20-kill, 21-dig performance against Robert Morris was Georgetown's first 20-20 effort since September 14, 2012 when Alex Johnson had 26 kills and 23 digs against the College of Charleston.