Volleyball at Duquesne, La Salle this Weekend

Live Stats vs. Duquesne
Watch vs. La Salle | Live Stats vs. La Salle
 
Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham volleyball team (10-11, 3-3 A-10) begins a lengthy road swing this weekend with two contests in Pennsylvania against teams it has already faced this season. First up on Friday night at 7 p.m. is Duquesne (14-6, 4-1 A-10), which fans can follow along via the link above. The Rams travel to La Salle (4-15, 0-5 A-10) for a 1 p.m. meeting on Sunday afternoon. Fans can both stream and follow along via the links above.  
 
Dig Pink
The Fordham volleyball team is working to help raise money for the Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care's Bronx Oncology Living Daily program. Through the program, breast cancer patients can access free wellness and support services, including BOLD Wellness Workshops and the BOLD Buddy Patient Navigation Program. The BOLD Living program helps underserved breast cancer patients throughout the Bronx adhere to and complete their breast cancer treatment.
 
The team will began its month-long raffle last Friday night and will announce the winners of several gift cards, two MAC product bags, a Tiffany's silver jewelry box, a Fordham swag bag, a Montefiore swag bag, and both Men's and Women's basketball tickets on Friday, November 4, during Field Trip Day.
 
To make a donation, please click here.
 
Last Time Out
Fordham hosted Saint Louis on Friday night for its annual Dig Pink event and fell in four sets to last year's runners-up. Both teams battled in the first two sets, going down the wire in each, but the Rams struggled in the final two frames. Fordham lost the first set despite tallying 14 kills and making a season-low two errors (.480) and kept their momentum up by storming back with five unanswered points t the end of the second set to win, 26-24, in dramatic fashion. Coming out of the long break, however, Saint Louis regrouped and sprinted away with the match, even notching a season-high for opponents with 18 kills in set four. Olivia Fairchild tallied a team-high 20 kills, the fifth time this season she's reached that mark, while Kristen Ostach matched a career-high with six blocks.
 
Dayton, the two-time defending A-10 champions, were too much to handle for the Rams on Saturday afternoon, as they dropped the hosts in three straight sets by similar scores, hitting .391 as a team as opposed to Fordham's .055 mark. The Rams were without several starters and role players and gave starts to Nicole Freeley and a first start of the season for Emily Fronk, who notched a team-high 20 assists.
 
National/Conference Rankings
The Rams are no longer first in the country with the most service aces, as Northern Arizona has overtaken them by one in nine fewer sets. Fordham is in a three-way tie with American and Oral Roberts, with 146. The team's 1.79 aces per set mark ranks 11^th in the country. Elsewhere in the top-100, Fordham ranks 55^th in total attacks (2,685), 66^th in kills (957), 69^th in assists (891), and 92^nd in digs (1,098).
 
At the individual level, Fairchild's 48 aces remain the third-most total in Division I, while she's up to eighth in kills (344), seventh in points (407.0), and 19^th in attacks (842). Maddy Walsh played in just one contest last weekend and as a result has dropped to 16^th with 785 helpers, but is still leading the A-10. Freshman Kaitlin Morley ranks 55^th with her 26 aces, while classmate Morgan Williams is 109^th with an even 300 digs.
 
Series History vs. Duquesne
The Rams are just 4-33 against the Dukes all-time dating back to 1995. Duquesne has won 18 straight contests since a Fordham home win in 2004, including a 3-1 decision a couple weeks ago in the Rose Hill Gym.
 
Scouting the Dukes
Duquesne is third in the A-10 so far this season with a 4-1 record and hold the tiebreaker over VCU with a superior overall record. Similar to Friday's match against Saint Louis, the Dukes took a tight first set, 25-23, before the Rams buckled down and erased a seven-point deficit in set two to win, 25-22. However, after that, the Dukes won big in the third stanza, 25-14, as the Rams made several errors, and, although they played more efficiently in the fourth, Duquesne kept up its momentum and won, 25-20.
 
The Dukes are led offensively by the impressive quartet of Maddie Bazelak, Molly Davet, Madelynn Burnham, and Abbie Trzeciak, all with at least 135 kills. Bazelak and Davet have 222 and 213, respectively, and it was Davet who enjoyed a tremendous game earlier this season with 23 kills. Duquesne also have a very solid setter and libero in Dani Suiter and Sammy Kline, respectively. Suiter ranks 70^th in the country with 683 assists, good for third in the league, and 111^th in the country with 23 aces. Kline ranks 46^th with 27 aces and 73^rd with 321 digs.
 
Series History vs. La Salle
The Explorers are the one A-10 opponent that Fordham has a winning record against over the last three decades, holding a 38-7 advantage since their first meeting in 1984. In fact, since they joined the A-10, the Rams are 37-3 against La Salle, with the three losses all coming on the road. After the win in the Bronx a few weeks ago, Fordham is now 19-0 all-time on Rose Hill.
 
Scouting the Explorers
Jensen Sharrits ranks 10^th in the nation with 396 digs and eighth with 5.35 digs per set, displaying the amount her defense has been needed this season. Freshman Devin Corah is the team's leading attacker, with 227 kills on the season, and she is also 46^th in the country with 27 aces. Setter Kathryn Wood's 686 assists are second in the conference behind Walsh and 67^th in the country.
 
Up Next
The Rams have just one match next weekend, at Rhode Island next Saturday afternoon at 5 p.m.