We are now two weeks into the 2025 Atlantic 10 (A-10) volleyball season. Fordham University Volleyball, the last-place selection in the A-10’s preseason poll, is off to a winless start.
The good news? Fordham won’t have to see the A-10’s two active powerhouse schools again all regular season.
While most A-10 teams faced two solid opponents, one great and one less-than-great opponent, or some other balanced combination of early-season foes, the Rams faced the conference’s reigning champions and runners-up in consecutive weeks to start the season.
In its season-opener against 2024 A-10 champion Loyola University Chicago, Fordham took a set and stayed close in their two defeats.
Facing the Dayton University Flyers last weekend in Ohio, Fordham lost 3-1 on Friday, 13-25, 23-25, 29-27, 14-25 and 0-3 on Saturday, 17-25, 12-25, 14-25.
Dayton advanced to the Sweet 16 last year, and were ranked #12 nationally. In the preseason poll, the Flyers were unanimous favorites to win the A-10. For years, they’ve far outmatched their A-10 competition. Last season, I likened them to volleyball robots.
While Dayton demonstrated dominance in its day two sweep, the Flyers appeared like something they hadn’t all of last year for most of Friday: human. Fordham had the Flyers on the ropes in set two before a late-set collapse. In set three, Fordham burst out to a 16-7 lead. While a late Dayton run closed the gap, the Rams closed out a nail-biting 29-27 win.
They did so in the oddest of ways.
Sometimes, some teams just match up better than others. Fordham’s super block found its kryptonite in Dayton. Dayton’s frequently reliable serve-receive met its match against Fordham’s notably conservative service.
Over the weekend, Fordham posted 13 blocks — its lowest output in a two-match stretch since their opening weekend in August. Junior Tatum Holderied had just four combined rejections, a season low.
In exchange, the Rams executed a season-best eight aces in their set three win. Five came from Holderied in one improbable 9-0 run, during which Fordham flipped a 3-1 deficit to a 10-3 lead.
Knuckleballing float serves into the gray area between Dayton’s front and back rows, Holderied, a 6’4” middle blocker better known for her touch at the net than at the baseline, served as many as three consecutive aces, to the bewilderment of just about everybody in the building.
Entering the season, Holderied had zero career aces. She now leads the team with an astonishing 16.
To underscore the historic nature of her season-to-date, it should be noted that Holderied’s low blocking outputs have lowered her national ranking in blocks per set from #1 to… #1. The Rams, as a team, are still ranked #3.
Last year, when Dayton swept Fordham in consecutive days, it felt like the series that officially exhausted whatever air remained in Fordham’s already-deflated playoff chances.
This year, it feels like another reminder that the Rams can compete with anyone.
Indeed, for a second straight week, Fordham managed to win a set against a historically hard-to-beat program — a feat they hadn’t accomplished against either team since at least 2022.
Again, a set win isn’t a match win, but it is indicative of something this team didn’t have much of a season ago: hope.
Fordham just competed well against, subjectively, the two best teams in the conference. The worst of the team’s schedule is already behind them. No other team can say that.
What’s more? If all goes to coach Ian Choi’s plan, the Rams just played their worst four matches of the conference campaign.
Entering A-10 play, Choi expressed concern about the plight of teams “peaking too early” in the season. “We have a balance and a team identity in addition to making sure we peak at the right time,” said Choi. “We’re seeing a lot of good things.”
The Rams will look to turn spurts of positive results against the A-10’s best into a win against a fellow 0-4 team: the University of Rhode Island (URI).
This time last year, Fordham played its annual intra-week match with URI in Kingston, Rhode Island and suffered a shocking sweep against the bottom-dwellers of the conference. This season, it feels imperative that they take care of business.
It’s especially important to build momentum with a scary George Washington University team traveling to the Bronx, New York, this weekend. The Revolutionaries were picked to finish fifth in the A-10, but have leaned on a stellar recruiting class en route to a 3-1 start — they even earned a win over Loyola Chicago last weekend.
Another question looms: How can the team fare in its first week of conference play with three matches? Choi spoke extensively during the non-conference season about giving his student-athletes holistic rest: “It’s not just the physical and athletic fatigue. It’s the mental fatigue too….rest is absolutely critical.”
The Rams will need to avoid the same fatigue that led to their blowout loss to Dayton last Saturday, while maintaining the spark that has willed them to unprecedented set wins in consecutive weeks.
A critical juncture of the team’s 2025 season begins Wednesday, Oct. 8, at home in the Rose Hill Gym, with first serve between URI and Fordham at 5 p.m. The Rams will then welcome the George Washington Revolutionaries to the Rose Hill Gym for two matches this weekend.
