Last year, Fordham Volleyball ended their season with three consecutive wins, yet these were not enough to propel them into the playoffs. They finished 5-9 in conference play and 12-14 overall. This year, a shortened season with a pod structure showed a whole new fire lit underneath the Rams. The squad finished .500 overall, and 5-3 in conference play. They breezed past George Washington and George Mason universities, then won matchups against La Salle University and the University of Rhode Island to send them to Atlantic 10 playoffs for the first time in a decade.

They made their way to Ohio, where they put up a strong fight against the host Flyers. They fell in three sets (15-25, 18-25, 20-25) yet battled until the very end for an intense third set. 

It was senior McKenna Lahr’s last game with Fordham, and she led the team in it with 11 kills. “Making A-10s my last year with this team and the coaching staff was the picture-perfect ending to the sport I’ve been playing the last 10 years,” she notes. 

“We worked so hard all year and this season and dealt with so much adversity, so to accomplish that was so incredible to be part of. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to conclude my volleyball career.”

The Flyers had a near perfect record, going 13-1 overall and 8-1 in conference, only losing their first match to Saint Louis 2-3. They recorded 44 kills to Fordham’s 31 in their A-10 face-off, and went on to beat Virginia Commonwealth University in the finals 3-0. Sophomore setter Megan Brzozowski earned a spot on the selective A-10 All-Championship team, next to four players from Dayton, and one each from Rhode Island and VCU. 

Freshman Whitley Moody also put up some impressive honors, securing A-10 Rookie of the Year for leading Fordham in kills and points. She takes the award with stride as her scope is on the greater whole of the team.

“This season truly was more rewarding than I ever would have expected it to be. It has been amazing to watch our team finally see all of our hard work pay off.  The preseason poll had us finishing ninth in the conference out of only 10 teams and that was really disappointing for us. We decided to use that as fuel for our fire and we wanted to prove everyone wrong! Qualifying for the conference tournament has been a goal of ours since 2011 when we last made it, so it was so rewarding for us to have finally made it back in! Overall, the ups and downs of this season caused by the pandemic and multiple injuries only made us stronger as a team. We have so much potential and I cannot wait to see what we do over the next few years.”