NEW YORK – Playing just their second and final midweek match of Atlantic 10 Conference play, Fordham University Volleyball hosts Rhode Island Tuesday night at the Rose Hill Gym.
Weekend Plans
Completing the back-end of a home-and-home from earlier this month, Rhode Island defeated the Rams in straight sets to open the month of October in Kingston. The Battle of the Rams is slated for a 5:00 p.m. opening serve on ESPN+ from the Rose Hill Gym Tuesday.
Centennial Celly
Opened on January 16, 1925, the Rose Hill Gymnasium is celebrating its Centennial season, and throughout the 2024-24 academic season Fordham Athletics and the entire University community will celebrate the history of the historic collegiate facility, one of the oldest in the entire NCAA. Fans at Tuesday's game will receive commemorative 100th year stickers as part of the Centennial kickoff on Rose Hill.
Rating Rhody
Rhode Island enters the midweek at 8-16 on the year, with a 3-8 mark in league play. The Rams split last weekend's series at home with Saint Louis, taking the first of two matches against the Billikens in straight sets.
Hammer Time
Dominating the attack, especially of late, Whitley Moody is coming off double digit performances in two of her last three games, putting her past 250 kills for the year, while leading the team at 3.73/set, ahead of 171 from Audrey Brown, who sits second on offense, hitting at a 2.44/set clip.
In all but four of her 20 games played in 2024, Moody has tallied double digit kills, highlighted by a new career high with 25 hammers while hitting .447 in a four set win over Duquesne in Pittsburgh on Oct. 18. Brown has notched 10 or more kills on eight occasions thus far, including a season-high 19 kills against Lafayette on Sept. 13.
Trouble at the Tape
Averaging over 2.0 blocks/set, the Rams have posted 10.0 or more total blocks on six occasions in 2024, posting 12.0 respectively against both George Mason and Duquesne.
Sophia Kuyn paces the team with 59.0 total blocks, leading a group of 10 Rams with 10 or more, including Lorenza Rosenkilde and Moody with 49.0 and 36.0 respectively.
Double Trouble
Moody has also tallied nine double-doubles this season, with Whitney Woodrow sitting one back of her with eight after notching three straight heading earlier this month. Recording her first of the season against Lafayette, Ryan Naumann would tally 10 assists and 18 digs against the Leopards, and enters the weekend leading the team from the libero spot with 3.22 digs per set.
Tatum Holderied would post her first career double-double with a career-high 10 kills against FDU where she also had a pair of solo blocks and eight block assists for 10 total blocks on the night. Zoe Talabong would notch her first career double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs on the afternoon Oct. 19 at Duquesne.
Dueling No. 20 Dayton
Opening a three game stretch of matches at the Rose Hill Gym, Fordham fell to No. 20 Dayton Friday afternoon in straight sets. Opening the match trading the first 16 points, eight a-side, Dayton would rattle off a quick run to pull away, and stopped a Fordham rally later in the frame, to pull away for what would be a 25-17 win in set one.
A strong second set by the Maroon and White saw the home side take the lead early, going up as many as six points, and leading 14-9 midway through the period. Dayton would creep back into the set late, battling back to take a 25-21 victory and prevent the Rams from being just the second team to steal a set from the Flyers in league play this season. The visitors would put their foot down in the third set, taking a commanding lead out of the gates, seeing out a 25-8 to sweep the match Friday night.
Taking on the Atlantic 10's top team for the second time in less than 24 hours, Fordham fell to Dayton in straight sets Saturday afternoon. Whitley Moody and Zoe Talabong hammered 20 of the Rams' 25 kills, split evenly between the two, while Moody led the team with 16 receptions ahead of 10 from Ryam Maumann. Emma Stammeyer would lead the assist numbers with 11 ahead of five from Whitney Woodrow.
Making History
Recording the Rams' 13th point of the opening set at Rhode Island in early October, and her fifth kill to that point in the match, Whitley Moody became the All-Time Program Kills Leader for Fordham Volleyball. Needing just five kills to break the mark of 1,443 set by Val Bosticco (1989-92), Moody would rattle off six kills in the first set alone, and would lead the attack hitting .308 for the match, drilling 16 kills and collecting nine digs along with a pair of service aces.
Moody, who has also tallied more attack attempts than any other Fordham player in history, is on pace to set the program record for kills per set average for a career over her now five year tenure donning Maroon and White.
Next Stop
Fordham Volleyball heads to America's Home for Racing as they head out to the greater North Carolina area this weekend for a pair of matches at Davidson on Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
