Fordham Volleyball squared off against Davidson College in central North Carolina this past weekend. Despite their considerable efforts, they were eventually swept in both Friday and Saturday’s contests. The 0-2 record at Davidson was hard to bear for the Rams, who are now all but certain to miss the Atlantic 10 tournament. Even though they are only one spot shy of the top six, their A-10 record trails that of the next highest seed, Saint Louis University (SLU) by two full games, 3-8 vs. 5-6. Realistically, in order to qualify, the Rams will either need to go undefeated to finish the regular season, watch Saint Louis go winless throughout the rest of the year or a bit of both. 

This fall has been quite the rollercoaster ride for head coach Ian Choi’s group. The Rams began the year red hot at 5-1 while going on the road and steamrolling many of their non-conference opponents. But things began to take a turn for the worse in mid-September when Fordham headed west for the University of North Dakota Classic. The Rams dropped both of their matches in the Mountain West, and spent the next few weeks trying to find their footing. Unfortunately for Fordham, the lengthy trip to North Dakota kick started a nine game losing streak which included an 0-4 start to A-10 play. Ever since that grueling stretch, the Rams have hovered around .500, including their first three A-10 wins of the season. 

While all hope isn’t lost just yet on Rose Hill, the Rams need to piece together a pretty spectacular run over the next few weeks just to give themselves a fighting chance at the sixth seed in the conference tournament come mid-November. They’ll wrap up the road portion of their regular season schedule this weekend in Pittsburgh with a two game series at Duquesne University. Following this weekend’s excursion, the remaining five matches will all be in their home gym in the Bronx. The Rams are surely a different team in their own building but even to make the final home stretch count, Fordham must grab at least one match in Duquesne and hope Saint Louis struggles this week. Luckily for Fordham, SLU is slated to play Dayton twice this week and Loyola Chicago once. Loyola Chicago is 11-0 in conference play in 2022 and Dayton has won the A-10 the last four years running. 

The talent is certainly there for the Rams, but it is going to come down to their ability to manufacture timely runs at the close of sets. They’ve battled with nearly every team in the A-10 conference, but what has set their opponents apart is a few clutch rallies when they matter most. Fordham is certainly one of the most explosive teams in the conference behind junior Whitley Moody and freshman Audrey Brown on the outside. Yet the question lingers: can they finish a tough set? Dishearteningly for the Ram faithful, they have yet to prove they can.

With yet another tough stretch of conference play behind them, the Rams must now turn over a new leaf and look to start fresh in Pittsburgh. The journey will continue this Friday at 6 p.m. at Duquesne before the Rams finish up their season series with the Dukes Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.