League Release

Newport News, Va. – Fordham volleyball senior libero Morgan Williams has been named the program's first-ever Atlantic 10 Libero of the Year, as voted on by the league's head coaches and announced by the league office on Thursday afternoon. Joining her with year-end awards are freshmen Megan Brzozowski and Aria De La Rosa, who were named to the All-Rookie squad, just the second time the Rams have seen two student-athletes earn the award in the same year.
 
Williams broke seven school records this season and matched an eighth, cementing herself as the program's most decorated libero by owning or sharing every single digs record at Fordham. The Los Angeles native finished her senior campaign with 641 digs at a pace of 6.05 per set, which ranked seventh and sixth, respectively, in the country. Those numbers helped her become the program's all-time digs leader, finishing with 1,862, while solidifying her place atop the per-set ranks by nearly a full dig, with 4.44. She recorded nine 30-dig efforts on the year, beginning with 33 against Georgia State, a new four-set record that stood for about three weeks until she one-upped herself and set the overall single-match record with 42 digs in four frames of a win at Dartmouth. Two weeks later, Williams notched the second-most digs in program history and broke the five-set record with 39 digs at Rhode Island. Against those same Rams a month later in the Bronx, Williams tied the three-set record of 22 for a third time in her career, once in each of the past three years. Williams was a four-time A-10 Defensive Player of the Week award winner this year; no other Ram had ever won more than two in a single campaign before. Williams has missed just three sets in her entire career, finishing with 419 sets played over 109 matches, including every set this year.
 
"Spot on for Mo to finish her career with this award," Head coach Ian Choi said, "The only Libero of the Year I know who got to work with Stephen Colbert. I'm happy to see her go out this way."
 
Brzozowski led the Rams with 616 assists as a true freshman, averaging 5.92 per set, the third-most and seventh-highest, respectively, among rookies in program history. The Highland Heights, Ohio native played in all but two sets this year and chipped in 235 digs (2.26 per set), 23 serves (0.22), 15 kills, and 11 blocks.
 
"Megan's a baller. She's one of the most competitively oriented kids we have on this team. It speaks volumes that she earned this award even as a three-rotation setter."
 
De La Rosa finished her freshman campaign with 177 kills, third-most on the team, with a team-high .236 hit percentage, adding a team-best 86 total blocks and 78 block assists, plus the second-most solo blocks, with eight, while playing in all but one set. The Portland, Ore. native averaged 0.82 blocks per set, second-most among Rams who played in at least half of the team's sets. Her total block and block assist counts were each third-most among freshmen in school history, while she tied teammate Elise Benjamin's rookie campaign in blocks per set in fifth. De La Rosa was just named the final A-10 Rookie of the Week after helping Fordham to a pair of victories to close out the season, tallying 11 kills in wins at George Washington and George Mason, while hitting .339 and adding 10 blocks. De La Rosa recorded 10 or more kills on seven occasions.
 
"Aria's been coming into every practice with a celebratory and competitive mindset from the start. This being her first year, we're expecting her to continue to develop her defensive skills and refine offensively."
 
The Rams finished the year on a three-game win streak to move to a 12-14 overall record and 5-9 in league play, just missing out on a postseason berth by a tiebreaker.
 
"Overall, it's validating to see unprecedented success with our accolades. I think it's a reflection of the direction and future of this program, but we have a lot of work to do in the offseason as we have higher standards next year."