NEW YORK – Returning back to the Five Boroughs for the second tournament of the year, Fordham University Volleyball heads down to Manhattan for three matches at Columbia that will see the Rams battle for state bragging rights against a trio of Empire State foes.
Weekend Plans
The Rams will play a doubleheader on Sept. 6 on Broadway against Manhattan at 1:30 p.m. and Syracuse that afternoon at 5:00 p.m. Fordham will then take on the host Lions Sept. 7 at 2:00 p.m. to close the Big Apple Tournament. Both of Friday's matches will be available to stream live on ESPN+ with Live Stats available through Sidearm stats.
Scouting the Opponents
Still seeking their first win of the campaign, Manhattan is coming off a pair of four-set losses and a straight set defeat at the Bash at the Beach in Daytona Beach, Fla. Fordham holds an 18-8 record all-time in the "Battle of the Bronx," including 12 of the last 13 meetings, most recently in 2019, a five-set victory for the Rams on the road in Riverdale.
Entering the weekend undefeated, Syracuse won all three of its matches at the Salt City Classic, downing NJIT and Canisius in straight sets, to bookend a four-set victory over Lafayette, a team the Rams will face next weekend. Friday afternoon will mark just the sixth meeting between the Rams and Syracuse, and the first since 2010, with the Orange holding a 5-1 record in the all-time series.
The Rams head to Columbia for the second straight season, after sweeping the Lions to open the month of September a year ago. The Big Apple Tournament hosts will open their season this weekend, taking on Syracuse and Manhattan on Friday as well, before squaring off with the Rams Saturday. That win was the first for Fordham over Columbia since 2007, snapping a six-match winning streak for the Lions from 2010-2019.
Opening Weekend
With a number of new faces arriving on Rose Hill for this fall, Fordham rotated 13 players during Friday's season opening loss at Air Force, before 12 different Rams saw the court in Saturday's game against South Dakota. Despite the losses, the Maroon and White experimented with a number of new lineups, which will feature new players at all positions in 2024.
A pair of returners would lead the Fordham offense in week one, with Whitley Moody tallying 18 kills for an even 3.00 k/s tally through the first two games, ahead of Audrey Brown who rattled off 14. The two would combine for over 100 attack attempts across the weekend, while Sophia Kuyn would lead the rookies with seven kills and recorded five block assists, second most on the team, behind Brown at even 1.00 blk/s. Whitney Woodrow would pace the assists numbers with 24, just ahead of Mackenzie Colvin with 20, while a trio of Rams have recorded 10+ digs, led by Ryan Naumann with 12, ahead of Moody and Woodrow with 10 apiece.
Schedule Outlook
A 27-match slate awaits the Rams for the 2024 campaign, including 11 matches within the friendly confines of the Rose Hill Gymnasium.A nine-match non-conference slate will see the Rams play in four tournaments to open the year, before an 18-game A-10 schedule to set the field for the six-team Atlantic 10 Championship in late November, hosted by Dayton.
The Rams will play tournaments at Air Force, Columbia, and FDU before returning home for the first time on Sept. 20-21 for the 21st Edition of the Rose Hill Classic. The conference season kicks off the following weekend in The Bronx, as Fordham takes on Saint Louis, Sept. 27-28.
Preseason Projections
On Aug. 28, the Atlantic 10 Conference announced the results of the 2024 Preseason Coaches' Poll. The Rams were projected to make the postseason, finishing sixth in the poll, earning 54 votes overall.
Dayton, which enters the season as the only Nationally ranked opponent in the A-10 at No. 23 overall, would be the unanimous selection to repeat as the conference champions at year's end, receiving all ten first place votes. Loyola Chicago with 89 votes was picked second, followed by VCU with 80 votes in third. Davidson (61 votes) was tabbed fourth, followed by Saint Louis (60 votes), Fordham (54 votes), Duquesne (41 votes), George Washington (29 votes), George Mason (25 votes), and Rhode Island (11 votes).
New Kids on the Block
Bolstering the roster at nearly every position, the Rams have added five new players, all freshmen as part of this year's recruiting class. Adding depth to the setter position the Rams added Emma Stammeyer, a 1000-assists player in High School, as well as a third libero in Özge Özaslan, who comes to Fordham from Istanbul, Turkey.
A pair of pin hitters also join the Ramily for 2024 in Bridget Woodruff out of Tacoma, Wash. and Mila Micunovic who comes to The Bronx from Riviera Beach, Fla. Rounding out the quintet of recruits for Fordham in 2024 is Sophia Kuyn, one of four Texans on the squad, who will add even more options across the tape, listed as a middle blocker. All three newcomers to the Fordham front row each enter their rookie campaign listed at 6 '0 or taller.
Run with the Rams
Coming off of their best season in over a decade, the Rams amassed 17 wins in 2023, and return key contributors at all positions, including Whitley Moody, who returns as the lone graduate student of the squad for her fifth year on Rose Hill. In all, the Rams return eight players who finished in the top-10 in sets played a year ago, one of those being setter Whitney Woodrow who saw action in all 110 sets for the Rams in 2023.
Woodrow, one of three setters on the squad, will have a plethora of attackers to dish the ball off to in 2024, returning all but one pin hitter, including the Rams' top three kill leaders, in Moody, Audrey Brown and Zoe Talabong who accounted for over 1,000 points as a group last year. Mackenzie Colvin also returns, after playing in 19 matches at setter for the Maroon and White, which used the 6-2 offense for parts of last season, and will look to do the same throughout the fall.
All but one of the Rams' middles return from last season, including Tatum Holderied, who tallied over 1.0 blocks per set over the course of her rookie campaign, and Lorenza Rosenkilde who also enters her second year on the squad after posting 49.0 blocks a year ago.
Fordham also brings back two of three liberos in Ryan Naumann and Lola Fernandez, with Naumann tallying nearly 2.0 digs per set in a limited role in 2023, while Fernandez featured mainly as a serving specialist, finishing two shy of the team lead with 23 service aces last season.
Next Stop
The Maroon and White will head across the George Washington into the Garden State for a pair of games next weekend at FDU. The Rams will take on Lafayette on Friday, Sept. 13 at 2:00 p.m. before battling the host Knights the following afternoon at 5:00 p.m.
