This past Friday and Saturday, Fordham Women’s Volleyball headed down to Queens for the Kaiser Classic, hosted by St. John’s University. 

The squad had a 2-4 record entering the tournament, losing all three at the Titan Classic at California State University, Fullerton, yet winning two of three at the Delaware Invitational. 

The Rams faced the home team Friday at 2:00 p.m., and took the Red Storm to five sets, losing 25-18, 25-16, 21-25, 16-25, 9-15 in the end with a set that was once tied 7-7. Senior Bella Urena led the team with 13 digs, her career-high, and 13 kills. Sophomores Whitley Moody and Isabel Fitchel contributed largely with Moody adding 12 kills and 10 digs of her own and Fitchel posting 10 kills. Another standout stat was Junior Megan Brzozowski’s season-high 40 assists with 11 digs.

Later that day against Army University, Urena beat her career-high set against the Red Storm and had 18 kills at a .293 clip. Both Moody and junior Aria De La Rosa had 11 kills, and junior Chloe Pejouan added four blocks, one of them solo. Junior libero Mallory Lipski had 26 digs, and both De La Rosa and freshman Megan Kinney had two aces. 

Urena and the whole team’s individual performances were impressive enough to carry them through five sets, yet they ended up dropping the game 14-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-18, 13-15. 

After her stellar performance, Urena said: “Over the past couple weeks we have been growing as a program and are continuing to compete and get better every day. This weekend brought us closer together as a team to maintain competitive attitudes going forward. Our team put together some great performances and I’m excited for what this season has in store. This is only the beginning!”

The next day, the squad fought hard against the Boston College Eagles, yet could not pull off the win, falling 30-32, 19-25, 26-24, 16-25. Moody matched her career high in kills with 20, and the entire team out-hit the Eagles .349 to .302 in the long first set. Pejouan hit her career best with 10 kills and a season-high of nine blocks. The fourth set, however, saw six Fordham errors, ending their time at the Kaiser classic. 

The Rams will welcome teams to the Bronx for the first time on Wednesday, taking on the Manhattan Jaspers at 7 p.m., before their hosting duties extend to the weekend in the Rose Hill Classic Friday and Saturday against Coppin State University and St. Francis Brooklyn.