After a hapless trip to Colorado that saw Fordham Volleyball drop straight sets in consecutive matches, the Rams relished their return to New York City, performing at a higher caliber in every facet of the game during a three-match showdown in the Columbia University-hosted Big Apple Tournament.
Action teed off Friday, beginning with a new installment of the heralded Battle of the Boroughs, as the Rams squared off with the Manhattan College Jaspers. It was repeated history for Fordham, as they cruised to a straight-set victory in their 13th win against Manhattan in their past 14 matches.
Before pulling away to sweep the Jaspers, the Rams were in hot water during set one. Trailing 15-17 in set one and in danger of dropping a seventh consecutive set to begin the season, senior Lauryn Sweeney toed the service line, rallying the Rams to a 7-0 run.
From there, it was a dominant showing in every respect for the Rams, tying or winning in every major team stat. Individually, a mix of the usual suspects and some blossoming star underclassmen carried the brunt of the load: on the attack, graduate student Whitley Moody and junior Audrey Brown were as unrelenting as always, leading the club with 14 and 10 kills, respectively. Setting them up was stud sophomore Whitney Woodrow, who wowed with her 34 assists. Fordham continued their trend of out-blocking everyone, win or loss, with freshman Sophia Kuyn leading the way — she finished with three block assists and two service aces to boot.
History told a different story when it came to the Rams’ second of two Friday foes, though — Fordham entered play just 1-4 against Syracuse University all-time, having last beaten the Orange in 2006. Despite a tightly played match, Fordham failed to upend that trend, with Syracuse taking the match in four sets.
The Rams continued to patrol the net at a surreal rate, tallying a season-high 13 blocks as a team. Conversely, the Orange continued a troubling trend by nailing 13 service aces to Fordham’s two — dating back to Colorado, Fordham has struggled to find service aces and to defend the serve with the consistency they are accustomed to. Brown and Moody paced the club, posting hitting percentages of .333 and .238 with 11 and 13 kills, respectively. The two continued their evolution as all-around superstars by tallying three block assists a piece. Elsewhere above the net, sophomore Tatum Holderied and Kuyn stymied the Orange with four and five block assists; Holderied, Moody and Woodrow registered solo blocks, too.
The Rams rattled off 10 straight to open play, but after cruising to a 25-15 finish in frame one, it was all Orange. Sets two and four featured inspiring Fordham rallies, but Syracuse steadied the ship and pulled away in both; in set three, Fordham’s upstate adversaries pulled away with ease. All told, it was a 15-25/25-20/25-14/25-21 win for Syracuse, who stand tall at 5-0 after the Big Apple Tournament; in other words, a narrow early-season loss to the Orange is nothing to be dismayed about.
In a Saturday matinee, Fordham appeared empowered, delivering their strongest performance of the 2024 campaign against Colombia in the Lions’ own Levien Gym. Fordham entered at 1-3; four sets and three career-highs later, the Rams notched another in the win column. In a career of highs, Moody managed a legacy-defining performance in her fifth year in maroon and white, posting an unbelievable 24 kills — that’s her best-ever mark and tied for the second-most kills ever from a Fordham player.
Did we mention that Fordham has excelled at the net this year? Holderied made sure to remind folks of that fact with her career-best six solo blocks, adding two block assists to finish with eight total blocks.
Not to be outdone by her record-setting teammates was Woodrow, who capped off a brilliant weekend of play with a near-unconscionable 46 assists and a career-high three aces.
It was a raucous occasion for the Rams, who were comically efficient in a 25-4 set one win, en route to a 25-4/24-26/25-15/25-22 trouncing of their Ivy League opposition.
It was announced Tuesday that Moody would be bringing home some hardware, too: the graduate was named A-10 player of the week in recognition of her big weekend; she posted double-doubles in all three matches, averaging 4.64 kills/set and 4.09 digs/set, culminating in her aforementioned 24-kill outing Saturday.
Moody and the Rams will take their momentum into a two-game stint next weekend on the campus grounds of Fairleigh Dickinson University; on Friday, they’ll face off against Lafayette College; on Saturday, they’ll battle FDU.
