Fordham Volleyball is officially in the Atlantic 10 Tournament as the sixth seed and will take on the third seed in Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) this Friday at 3:30 p.m. This comes after a key victory against George Mason University this weekend, where the Rams ultimately split the two matches but won the first in a dominating fourth set that ended in a score of 25-10.
This first match, which began on the road on Friday, started out very close. The first set ended with a narrow 25-23 Fordham victory, led by five kills from senior Whitley Moody and four from sophomore Zoe Talabong. The second set was even closer, going to a shocking 32-30 final score, with both teams trading points back and forth until finally, the Rams were able to win off an attack error. The third set was their only dropped set on the day, falling again to an extremely close 25-23 score, with George Mason making the late push ahead. Lastly, as mentioned previously, Fordham buried their opponents by a score of 25-10, a truly clutch set that would secure their place in the postseason. At the end of the match, head coach Ian Choi gave credit to sophomore Mackenzie Colvin, who led the Rams in total assists with 23.
Saturday did not go as well, as the team would lose in three close sets. All were tight, with the first ending 25-21, followed by a 25-22 defeat, before the third ended 27-25 after extra points.
Standouts for the match included sophomore Audrey Brown, who finished with 12 kills, while Moody had 11.
Fordham officially finishes their regular season with a 17-11 record overall and a 8-10 record in conference play. This was a big bounce-back year for the Rams after missing the tournament altogether last season. If the team is able to win the tournament, they will advance to the bigger NCAA Volleyball Tournament, which consists of all the winners of their respective conferences. But for now, the Rams get ready for VCU on Friday in Davidson, N.C.
The Rams split their regular season matches against VCU in October, with both teams winning a match by 3-1.
Fordham will look to come out on top in North Carolina and advance in the tournament.
