Volleyball at Rhode Island Friday Night for Crucial A-10 Showdown

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Bronx, N.Y. – The final day of the 2017 regular season is here for the Fordham volleyball team (12-14, 4-9 A-10), as they travel up to Rhode Island (10-15, 5-8 A-10) for a critical Atlantic 10 contest with major postseason implications. A specific type of win and some help will see Fordham clinch its first postseason berth since 2010.
 
Breast Cancer Awareness Month
The calendar may have flipped to November but the Rams and the Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Research are still accepting donations for the team's drive to raise $2,000! The goal is less than $350 from being met. To make a donation, CLICK HERE.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams traveled to two of the top three schools in the conference, Saint Louis and Dayton, last weekend, and picked up two four-set losses. Fordham took the opening set against the Bilikens but the hosts rallied for three straight set victories to take the match, and split the first two frames with Dayton two days later but the three-time defending champs withstood the late pressure to win the final two sets. Against Saint Louis, Olivia Fairchild picked up 13 kills and four more aces to pad her national lead in the latter category, while McKenna Lahr tallied a personal-best 18 digs on the day. Against Dayton, Fairchild totaled a match-high 15 kills to go with 11 digs for a double-double, adding another ace and a career-high three assists, backed by Lahr's own double-double of 12 kills and 11 digs, while Morgan Williams led the squad with 16 digs.
 
Series History
Rhode Island leads the all-time series, 30-9, 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 8-12, with all eight wins coming between 2004 and 2012. Rhody has won the last eight contests, including a sweep in the Bronx just two weeks ago.
 
Fairchild, Rams Acing the Test
The Rams have enjoyed a tremendous season along the baseline to date, ranking second in the country with 1.97 aces per set and sixth overall with 183 total aces. Of the top-15 teams, Fordham has played in the fewest number of sets, 93. 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 61 aces on the year, good for 0.66 per set, which ranks second in the country, and shares the top spot in Division I with Saint Louis' Sien Gallop. She also just recently entered Fordham's all-time top-10 list for career aces, now up to seventh, with 118, after passing Kailee May ('10) last weekend. She is 12 back of Mele Misi ('03) for sixth. Only one player has ever served up more than 156 aces: Jenn Shea from 1991-94, with 256. Fairchild also just entered the single-season top-10 for a second straight season. She's surpassed her total for last year, 57, and ranks sixth.
 
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. Lahr, herself, with that performance rocketed up the Division I standings after an early-season hot stretch, ranks 18^th in the country with 0.45 aces per set and 84th overall with 34. Click here to view the record book.
 
Atlantic 10 Ranks
The Rams rank fifth in the league with a .201 team attack percentage, sixth with 11.56 assists per set, sixth with 12.26 kills per set, seventh with 13.68 digs per set, eighth with 1.42 blocks per set, and, of course, first with 2.09 aces per set.
 
At the individual level, Fairchild ranks first with her 61 aces, and also leads the A-10 with 333 kills and 3.58 kills/per set average. Fairchild and Olivia LaPorta rank 13^th and 14^th in attack percentage with .260 and .257, respectively. Walsh's 685 assists rank fifth overall as does her 8.06 assists per set. Morgan Williams' 370 digs and 3.98 digs per set rate rank eighth and seventh, respectively. Lahr's 34 aces rank seventh, with teammates Williams, Kaitlin Morley, and Molly Oshinski within the top-32. Lahr's 0.45 aces per set, though, rank third, while Fairchild's 0.66 sits just behind Saint Louis' Sien Gallop, who averages 0.69 per.
 
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 4.05 digs per set average would fall just shy of the single-season record, although she was recently surpassing it as recently as two weeks ago. 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
To be determined. Should Fordham qualify for the A-10 Championship, the Rams will head to Pittsburgh, Pa. next week to compete at the A.J. Palumbo Center, home of Duquesne, this year's host.