It remains a mystery why the Atlantic 10 (A-10) releases its Women’s Tennis preseason poll a quarter of the way through the spring season — something it does for no other sport — but it also remains an early-season checkpoint in assessing how teams stack up ahead of interconference play.
In the poll released Feb. 12, the Fordham University Rams ranked second of 12 teams in the league, carrying 126 total points and five first-place votes.
Reigning champion Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), which knocked off Fordham in the semifinals of last year’s tournament, earned six first-place votes and narrowly edged Fordham for the top spot at 132 points.
Three Fordham Rams were named to the Preseason All-Conference team: senior and reigning A-10 Performer of the Year Nevena Kolarevic, junior Julianne Nguyen and freshman Valerija Karjina.
While the poll doesn’t quite reflect the Rams’ championship ambitions, past preseason placements haven’t stopped them from proving the conference wrong.
In 2025, Fordham was placed fourth but finished first with an unblemished 8-0 regular season record. When Fordham won the conference title in 2023, it had been picked fifth.
The Rams carry a 3-7 record into March, though six of their losses have come against top-75 teams in the country, according to the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. For reference, not a single A-10 team is in the top 75.
Fordham headed to the Windy City on Saturday, Feb. 14, for its most recent matches, splitting a pair over the weekend.
The Rams earned their first sweep of the new year against the University of Illinois Chicago, cruising to a 4-0 win Saturday.
Leading the way were Karjina and junior Lily Chitambar, who teamed to earn a 6-1 win at #2 doubles. Each took their respective singles matches, too, with Karjina prevailing 6-3, 6-4 at #4 and Chitambar winning 6-1, 6-2 at #6.
The sophomore tandem of Paola Dalmonico and Catalina Padilla clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 finish, while Kolarevic tacked on the Rams’ match-winning point at #1 singles, 6-2, 6-1.
In a rather quick turnaround, Fordham was shut out, 7-0, against Northwestern University (NU) on Sunday. While the Rams were on a back-to-back, the Wildcats came in on a full week’s rest, taking the doubles point, 2-0, and sweeping singles.
At #1 doubles, Kolarevic and Nguyen held a 5-4 lead when the Wildcats clinched wins at #2 and #3. Two Rams forced a third set in singles play, with Dalmonico falling 6-4, 3-6, 2-6 at #3 and Chitambar going 2-6, 7-5, 0-1 at #6.
Northwestern became the first non-top-75 team to take down the Rams, but the Wildcats boast a strong resume nonetheless. NU took points off of #8 Oklahoma State University and #15 University of Virginia a week before their defeat of the Rams.
With A-10 play looming, the always-traveling Rams enjoyed last weekend off — it’ll be their only week without a match all season.
The Maroon return to the courts Sunday, March 1, for a 10 a.m. tilt at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), where they’ll seek to avenge what Fordham fans might call the NJIT curse — both Men’s and Women’s Basketball suffered losses to the Highlanders earlier this season.
NJIT sits at 6-2, including two commanding wins over A-10 opponents, making the match a solid litmus test for a Fordham team looking to get hot before the conference season gets underway in late March.
