Since last week, the Fordham volleyball team has competed in three hard-fought Atlantic 10 matches, all against other schools who also go by the Rams. The first was a successful 3-0 victory against the University of Rhode Island. The second and third were a pair of matches against Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), in which they split 1-1.
Starting at home last Wednesday, the team looked to bounce back against Rhode Island after a deflating set of losses against a ranked Dayton squad. They managed to do just that and came firing out of the gate with a 25-19 victory in the first set. The set was closed by two clutch kills by sophomore Audrey Brown, who ended with 12 on the day. In the second set, Fordham remained in control, and won in a solid 25-20 victory. Lastly, they wrapped up their 25-19 victory in the third set with an 8-1 scoring streak to send Rhode Island home and complete the shutout. Aside from Brown, standouts included graduate student Nailah Jenkins and senior Whitley Moody with seven kills.
On Saturday, the team traveled to Virginia to take on VCU. Fordham won the first set 25-21 thanks to their stellar 14-2 run at the start of the match. VCU was able to sneak back in the first, but would fall short. Unfortunately, the team lost the second set in an intense back-and forth where VCU would win in an extra-long 31-29 victory. After this, Fordham had seemingly run out of gas. They lost the third 25-21, and were crushed in the fourth set with a 25-11 loss. Moody led with 17 kills, yet it was not enough.
However, Fordham came back ready to play the next day and on Sunday they took down VCU 3-1. It began with a three point victory in the first, followed by a seven point victory in set two. Their only loss on the day was in set three where they were unable to close it out and lost 25-18. They stepped up when they needed to, and won the fourth set 25-22 partially thanks to sophomore Zoe Talabong.
Not only did she have a phenomenal day with 17 kills and 15 digs, but she scored the game-winning kill to bring the Rams up to 3-4 in conference play.
Their next matchup will come against the Saint Louis University Billikens this Friday. Saint Louis stands at a middling 9-10 overall and 2-5 in conference play, but it remains to be seen if the Rams will play up to their standards to bring the team back to .500 in Atlantic 10 play.
