Volleyball Opens 2024 Campaign at Air Force - Fordham University Athletics (2024)

Colorado Springs, Co.– The 2024 campaign has finally arrived for Fordham University volleyball, who head to Colorado this weekend for a pair of games to open the season at the Amy Svoboda Memorial Classic hosted by Air Force.

Weekend Plans

Fordham will take on Air Force on Friday at 7:00 p.m. EDT (5:00 MST), and South Dakota Saturday, also at 7:00 p.m. EDT. Coverage for both games will be available on the Mountain West Network which can be streamed through ESPN+. Live Stats for both matches can be accessed through StatBroadcast.

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.

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.

Scouting the Opponents

Air Force is coming off a historic season that saw the Falcons tally their most conference wins ever at the Division I level with nine, and tied the best overall record the team has ever had in Division I, posting 17 wins over 29 matches. South Dakota, picked to finish third in the Summit League Preseason Coaches' Poll after finishing last season 18-11, and earning a bid into the NVIT.

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 Wednesday, 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).

Next Stop

Returning back to the Five Boroughs for the second tournament of the year, the Rams head down to Manhattan for three matches at Columbia that will see Fordham battle for state bragging rights against a trio of New York State foes. The Rams open the tournament on Sept. 6 on Broadway against Manhattan at 12:00 p.m. and Syracuse that afternoon at 5:00 p.m. Fordham will then take on the host Lions Sept. 7 to close the Big Apple Tournament.