Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham volleyball team (11-10, 3-5 A-10) begins its final homestand of the 2017 season this weekend, hosting VCU (21-2, 7-0 A-10) on Friday and Davidson (8-12, 1-6 A-10) on Sunday. Friday is Field Trip Day, with over 2,000 local schoolchildren and fans expected in attendance, and Sunday is the program's annual Breast Cancer Awareness match.
Friday's match will be streamed on the A-10 Digital Network and there will be live stats for both contests.
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Friday is your LAST chance to purchase raffle tickets and bid on several terrific silent auction items before Sunday's Breast Cancer Awareness match. The program has also set a goal of $2,000 and is a little less than halfway there. You can help by making a donation to the Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Research by
clicking here.
Last Time Out
The Rams split a pair of road matches last weekend, sweeping La Salle before getting swept at Duquesne. Against the Explorers, Fordham coasted to set one and three victories sandwiched around a tight 29-27 second set. Sophomore
Elise Benjamin, making her fourth start since returning from injury, put up a career-high 12 kills at a .345 clip and added three blocks, as well, while
Olivia Fairchild double-doubled with 10 kills and 10 digs, adding five more aces and four blocks of her own. The Rams didn't struggle with efficiency against the Dukes, they just struggled to slow down the hosts on Sunday afternoon. For Fordham,
Kaitlin Morley led the way with nine kills, eight digs, and two aces, while
Morgan Williams tallied 14 digs, and
Sophia Plett returned from an injury layoff with 23 assists.
Series Histories
Fordham and VCU met in 1997 on neutral ground, with the Rams winning in four sets, but the series didn't pick back up until the (other) Rams entered the A-10 in 2012. VCU leads all-time, 5-3, and 5-2 since that first nonconference match-up, including the last three matches dating back to 2015. The two schools have only met once each of the last two seasons and this road contest will make it four straight down in Richmond for Fordham, where the Rams have never won.
Similarly, the series with Davidson is very new, as well, since the Wildcats joined the conference in 2014. Fordham won that first contest, 3-1, at home, but have lost the last four, with the most recent three coming on the road.
Fairchild, Rams Acing the Test
The Rams have enjoyed tremendous season along the baseline to date, ranking first in the country with 2.16 aces per set and second overall with 160 total aces, and while four other players have at least 18 aces on the year, it's
Olivia Fairchild that's leading the country with her serving. The sophomore is up to 52 aces on the year, good for 0.70 per set, and just recently entered Fordham's all-time top-10 list for career aces, tied with Roxanne Hill '03 for 10
th with 109. She is just three away from leapfrogging Tasha Johnston '06 and Marija Markovic '06 into seventh place. Only one player has ever served up more than 156 aces: Jenn Shea from 1991-94, with 256. Fairchild also recently 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 sixth with a .198 team attack percentage, fourth in opponent hit percentage (.195), fifth with 11.62 assists per set, sixth with 12.26 kills per set, seventh with 13.91 digs per set, and, of course, first with 2.16 aces per set.
At the individual level, Fairchild ranks first with her 52 aces, has moved up to first with 258 kills, and is third with 3.49 kills per set. Walsh's 525 assists rank sixth overall, as does her 7.95 assists per set rate.
Morgan Williams' 313 digs and 4.23 digs per set rate rank seventh and sixth respectively.
During conference play, Fordham's ranks are nearly identical. However, Morley has seen her production increase since league play began, with her 3.42 kills per set ranking second among all A-10 players in-conference, while her 89 kills rank third. Walsh also ranks second as one of only two setters in the league averaging more than 10 assists per set (10.46). Only Duquesne's Dani Suiter (10.90) 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 4.23 digs per set average would become the new single-season record, as 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 have just one match next weekend, the home finale and Senior Day, hosting Rhode Island next Friday night at 7 p.m.
