Volleyball at Manhattan Wednesday Night for 37th Battle of the Bronx

Watch | Live Stats
 
Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham volleyball team will seek to continue its momentum from its weekend sweep at the University of New Orleans Invitational when it heads to nearby Riverdale for the 37^th Battle of the Bronx, hosted by Manhattan at Draddy Gymnasium, on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams began their season 3-0 for the first time since 2010 and the first under head coach Gini Ullery-Shrift. That season was the first time Fordham started a season with four straight wins, as well. Fordham downed both Southeast Missouri State and the hosting Pioneers on Friday, 3-1 and 3-2, respectively, before sweeping Alcorn State on Saturday. The team conjured 33 total aces and 143 kills to their opponents' 105, at nearly 12 kills per set over the weekend. Sophomore standout and reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year Olivia Fairchild tallied a match-high 18 kills and tied a program record with six aces in the four-set contest. Even more impressively, Fairchild hit at a .571 clip, making just two errors on 28 attacks. The Rams found themselves down, 8-2, in the fifth set against New Orleans but rallied after switching sides and racing to a 15-11 victory to take the match. Fairchild notched a season-high 23 kills and nine digs, freshman starting outside hitter McKenna Lahr notched the team's first double-double with 16 kills and 16 digs, sophomore libero set a career-high with 26 digs, and junior Maddy Walsh assisted on 34 points. In the weekend finale, Fairchild hit .588 with 11 kills, while junior captain Breanna Jones, who spent most of last year out with an injury, hit double figure for the first time this season with 10 kills and a .400 attach percentage, double-doubling, to boot, with 10 digs. Lahr played just one set but was still able to match her season-high with four aces and added three kills and six digs. Sophomore Kaitlin Morley chipped in five kills on five attempts in her lone set of work, as well.
 
Fairchild, Lahr Named A-10 Player, Rookie of the Week
Fairchild and Lahr were integral to Fordham's weekend sweep down in New Orleans and were rewarded with the league's Player and Rookie of the Week honors, respectively. For Fairchild, the honor is the second of her career and Lahr's first. Fairchild won Rookie of the Week honors last season four times. Read more about it, here.
 
Scouting Manhattan
The Jaspers began their season 0-3, losing all three games at the Hampton Inn Leatherneck Invitational, hosted by Western Illinois. Manhattan was swept by Chicago State to open the weekend, dropped a tough five-set match to the hosts, and lost in straight sets to Evansville on Saturday. The attack has been spread pretty evenly thus far, with Erin Hoener's 19 kills and .441 attack percentage leading the way. She has played all but one set. She also is instrumental on defense, tallying 12 total blocks and two solo swats in just the three games so far. Both Sandra Lozanova and Mary Donnelly each have 15 kills to their name and two others have 10. Setting duties fall to Zoe Lindsey and Taylor Hasley, who have 54 and 31, respectively, while libero Alyssa Rehrer, who is the lone Jasper to appear in every set, has recorded 61 digs at a clip of 5.55 per set.
 
Series History
Fordham leads the all-time series with the Jaspers, 24-10-2, since 1980. Manhattan swept Fordham in 2011 on neutral ground but, otherwise, the Rams have won the other nine since the start of the 2004 season. Most recently, Fordham swept Manhattan at home last year and won, 3-1, on the road a year before that. No Jasper had more than seven kills in that game while Fairchild hit 13, Morley had 10, and Maddy Walsh tallied 39 assists in three sets. Morley and Jones nearly double-doubled, missing out by one dig and one kill, respectively.
 
Aces in the Hole
Your Fordham Rams are Division I's leaders in service aces after the opening weekend, with 33. Lahr leads the charge with nine but Fairchild has seven and five others have at least two. Fordham is averaging 2.75 per set, which ranks fourth in the country. Lahr's nine ranks eighth in the country, while Fairchild sits at 22^nd. The Northeast Conference's Robert Morris is next with 32 aces, followed by Austin Peay of the Ohio Valley Conference, with 31. However, those schools have played in four more sets. Fordham finished last season ranked 14^th in the nation with 189 aces and had fifth-lowest number of sets played in the top-15.
 
Up Next
The Rams open the home portion of their schedule with the Rose Hill Classic this weekend, hosting Cleveland State on Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. and Rider on Saturday at 1 p.m.