NEW YORK – Closing the 2024 season with a pair of matches at home, Fordham University volleyball hosts VCU Friday and Saturday at the Rose Hill Gym.
Weekend Plans
This weekend's "Battle of the Rams" starts Friday at 3:00 p.m. ahead of game two Saturday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. with Fordham set to honor its four departing upperclassmen prior to the match on Saturday, Audrey Hayes, Lauryn Sweeney, Ryan Naumann, and Whitley Moody.
Scouting VCU
At 16-8 on the year, VCU has posted a 14-2 record in Atlantic 10 play this season, currently holding the No. 2 seed in next weekend's A-10 Championship. The Rams haven't lost since Oct. 5, dropping just eight sets over a 12-match winning streak. VCU enters the weekend with five players averaging over 2.0 kills per set, led by Julia Rienks at 3.44 per set, with each member of that group contributing over 125 kills.
Hammer Time
Since breaking the program record for career kills in early October, Whitley Moody has been a dominant force on the attack, leading the team all season long at 3.75 kills/set, having drilled 334 kills for the season. In all but five 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.
Audrey Brown sits second on the team with 208 kills at 2.45/set, and has notched 10 or more kills on nine occasions this season, most recently against Rhode Island on Oct. 29 when she scattered 12 kills in a straight set win at home.
Trouble at the Tape
Averaging over 2.0 blocks/set over the course of the 2024 campaign, October saw the Rams post nearly 8.0 blocks per set as a team, including four matches with eight or more total blocks. Lorenza Rosenkilde paces the team with 64.0 total blocks, ahead of 60.0 from Sophia Kuyn, including 19 solo blocks between the two, leading a group of 10 Rams with 10 or more, including Moody who sits third with 45.0.
Ryan Naumann has paced the Rams from the libero spot, collecting 3.23 digs/set as one of five Rams to tally over 2.1 digs/set this season, ahead of Moody at 2.87/set. Zoe Talabong has averaged 2.86 digs/set, followed by Whitney Woodorw with 2.59/set, with three of those four all tallying over 220 digs this season.
Double Trouble
Moody has also tallied 10 double-doubles this season, with Whitney Woodrow sitting two back of her with eight. 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.
Weekend at Loyola Chicago
Keeping pace with the Ramblers in the early stages of all three sets, Fordham was outlasted in straight sets Friday night at Loyola Chicago. Moody would lead the Rams with 12 kills, while hitting .324 for the match, along with four digs, while Talabong would pace the dig totals with 13 and five kills, and Brown scattered five hammers as well.
Taking on one of the A-10's top teams for the second night in a row, the Rams fell to the Ramblers in straight sets Saturday afternoon. Moody would lead the Rams with 14 kills and 10 digs, with Brown adding six hammers and Lauryn Sweeney adding four. Naumann would also tally 10 digs along with four assists, while Woodrow would dish out 22 helpers on the afternoon.
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.
