Volleyball Hosts Rhode Island on Friday Night in Regular Season Home Finale

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham volleyball team (12-11, 4-6 A-10) hosts Rhode Island (9-13, 4-6 A-10) on Friday night in the team's regular season home finale. The Rams, looking for their first A-10 Championship berth since 2010, and Rhody are locked in a battle for the sixth seed in the league's postseason.
 
Friday's match will be streamed live on the A-10 Digital Network. Both that and live stats links are above.
 
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Last Sunday may have been the team's annual Breast Cancer Awareness match, but fans can still make donations to a very worthy cause and in getting the program to their $2,000 goal. So far more than $1,500 has been raised. The Rams have partnered with both the Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Research and Colleges vs. Cancer for the event and all proceeds will go to Montefiore. To make a donation, CLICK HERE.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams split last weekend's home matches, falling to league-leading VCU in straight sets on Friday afternoon, during the team's annual Field Trip Day event, in front of a volleyball-record 1,776 fans, but bounced back to defeat Davidson in five sets on Sunday. Fordham held tough against a dangerous VCU squad, scoring at least 21 in all three sets and pushing the (visiting) Rams to a 28-26 third set score. Fordham hit .309 as a team, fourth-highest this season, but allowed their opponents to hit .352 against them. Both Olivia Fairchild and McKenna Lahr tallied 10 kills, with the former also providing 10 digs for a double-double.
 
Against Davidson, Fordham took a one-set lead but fell behind as the Wildcats took sets two and three by four- and two-point margins. The Rams kept their composure, however, and breezed past Davidson in the fourth, 25-15, to force a decisive fifth frame. Momentum carried over into a 10-0 start for the hosts and an eventual 15-6 win. Fairchild tallied 21 kills, second-most of her sophomore campaign, to go with 10 digs, while Lahr matched the program five-set and overall records with eight aces in the contest, a feat also done by Fairchild several weeks ago against George Washington. Lahr finished with six kills but also tallied 11 digs, second-most in the squad. Olivia LaPorta posted 10 kills and a season-high seven blocks, one solo, one shy of her personal-best, and a season-high five digs.
 
McKenna Lahr Named Co-Rookie of the Week
The honor is the freshman's third of the season, becoming just the third Ram to ever win the award at least three times in their debut season. Lahr joins Christi Griffiths and Fairchild in doing so. Lahr tossed up the aforementioned eight aces and was otherwise terrific on both ends of the court. To read more about her weekend, click here.
 
Series History
Rhode Island leads the all-time series, 29-9, dating back to Fordham's entry into the Atlantic 10 in 1995. Rhody dominated the 1990s portion of the series, winning all 10 before the turn of the century, and only dropping three total sets, sweeping Fordham six straight times to begin the series. Fordham swept the Rams on the road in 2000 but Rhody bounced back with eight straight between then and 2004. Since, Fordham has gone 8-11, with all eight wins coming between 2004 and 2012. Rhody has won the last seven contests, including a sweep in Kingston a year ago. Fairchild tallied a match-high 12 kills in that one, while Kaitlin Morley tossed up a then-career-best four aces.
 
Fairchild, Rams Acing the Test
The Rams have enjoyed a tremendous season along the baseline to date, ranking first in the country with 2.13 aces per set and second overall with 175 total aces, behind only UMES, who has totaled 219, but in 26 more sets. While Fordham has four other players with at least 19 aces on the year, it's Fairchild that's leading the country with her serving. The sophomore is up to 55 aces on the year, good for 0.67 per set, and just recently entered Fordham's all-time top-10 list for career aces, tied alone in eighth with 112. She is just four away from leapfrogging Kailee May '10, into seventh place. Only one player has ever served up more than 156 aces: Jenn Shea from 1991-94, with 256. Fairchild, like Lahr a week ago, also set the school four-set record with eight aces against George Washington a couple weeks ago and matched the overall single-match record, the same day that the squad, as a whole, matched the four-set record, as well. Click here to view the record book.
 
Atlantic 10 Ranks
The Rams rank third in the league with a .205 team attack percentage, fourth in opponent hit percentage (.199), sixth with 11.57 assists per set, sixth with 12.28 kills per set, eighth with 13.65 digs per set, eighth with 1.43 blocks per set, and, of course, first with 2.16 aces per set.
 
At the individual level, Fairchild ranks first with her 55 aces, and also leads the A-10 with 289 kills. The sophomore is also second with 3.52 kills per set. Olivia LaPorta ranks seventh with her .300 attach percentage, while Walsh's 597 assists rank sixth overall, as does her 8.07 assists per set rate. Morgan Williams' 334 digs and 4.07 digs per set rate rank seventh and sixth, respectively.
 
During conference play, Fordham's ranks are nearly identical. However, Morley's production increased since league play began, with her 3.34 kills per set ranking second among all A-10 players in-conference, while her 97 kills ranking fifth. Walsh also ranks second as one of only two setters in the league averaging more than 10 assists per set (10.12). Only Duquesne's Dani Suiter (11.00) is ahead of her.
 
Williams Digs Into History
Despite a loss to Cleveland State, sophomore libero Williams tied a program record with 22 digs in just three sets during Fordham's home opener. Williams' personal best is 26, set at New Orleans on opening day earlier this year. The talented sophomore's current 4.07 digs per set average would fall just shy of the single-season record, although she was recently surpassing it as recently as last weekend. She would still be just the second player to ever average more than four per set. The current mark is Jenn Shea's 4.10, set in 1994. She's also on pace to tally a top-three total digs number, as well.
 
Up Next
The Rams hit the road for three critical matches, against top-half squads Saint Louis and Dayton, next Friday and Sunday, respectively, before finishing the regular season at Rhode Island. The A-10 Championship will be held at Duquesne beginning on November 17.