Volleyball in Phoenix this Weekend for Grand Canyon Tournament

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Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham volleyball team (6-1) begins a lengthy eight-match road swing this weekend with the GCU Tournament, hosted by Grand Canyon. The Rams will play the Lopes (4-2) to begin the tournament on Friday night at 10 p.m. EST, before a Saturday doubleheader against Idaho (1-4) at 3 p.m. and Gonzaga (2-4) at 7:30 p.m.
 
The opening match against Grand Canyon can be streamed live at the link above. The other two contests can be found via the live stats link above. All times are Eastern.  
 
Last Time Out
Fordham whipped up its third sweep of the year with a victory over winless Saint Peter's on Tuesday night. The Rams hit .319 as a team, their fourth-highest mark thus far this season, led by Olivia LaPorta's 11 kills (.625), matching her career-high. McKenna Lahr chipped in eight kills and Olivia Fairchild was held to single-digit kills, with seven, for the first time through seven matches. LaPorta also blocked four shots to lead the squad. Freshman Sophia Plett made her second start and tallied 31 assists and eight digs, plus a personal-best three kills.
 
Fairchild Named Co-Player of the Week
Fairchild earned her second straight piece of hardware on Tuesday as the Atlantic 10 selected her for the Co-Player of the Week award alongside VCU's Tori Baldwin. It's the sophomore's third time overall earning the accolade and the second straight week to begin the year. Read more about it, here.
 
Scouting Grand Canyon
The Lopes competed in the Syracuse Tournament to begin the year and won all three matches, against the hosts, Siena, and Niagara, by a combined 9-2 score, then fell to Radford and Arizona to start the latter's Labor Day weekend tournament before beating Eastern Kentucky in five sets in the finale. The Lopes are hitting .198 as a team, led by Claire Kovensky and Teagan DeFalco, who have 80 and 73, respectively. Setting duties are split between Kayla Redfield and Heidi Carpenter, who each have over 100 assists on the year. The Lopes are strong at the net defensively, led by combined 46 blocks from Hannah Hicks and Maria Adams, the latter of which has notched six solo swats already. Grand Canyon have kept a consistent starting lineup for every match thus far, while defensively, Torrin Crawford can be a handful with 23 blocks already, plus three others with at least 10.
 
Scouting Gonzaga
Like Idaho, the Zags fell in all three matches of their season-opening tournament, at Montana State, dropping contests to Illinois and Air Force on day one and to the hosts in five sets the following day. Gonzaga rebounded with strong wins over Arizona State and Nevada at their own Invitational, but fell in straight sets to Portland State in the finale. Only two players have started all six matches, Kaylie Loewen and Alyse Whitaker, the team's leading attackers with 70 and 50 kills, respectively, although three others have at least 35. The team is hitting just .159 as a group, however. Defensively, there are five players with at least nine blocks, led by Loewen's 19.
 
Scouting Idaho
The Vandals dropped four straight matches to begin the season, getting swept in all three at Oregon State, also facing Kansas State and Pacific. Idaho fell to DePaul in four sets to open the Illinois-Chicago Invitational but battled back to defeat the hosts in five sets. Kaela Straw's 55 kills lead the way, but the attack is split amongst three others with at least 30 kills, too. Haylee Mathis is the team's main setter, totaling 166 thus far,
 
Series Histories
This will be a weekend full of firsts as the Rams have never played any of the three schools.
 
Aces in the Hole
The Rams lead all of Division I with 66 aces and 2.60 aces per set. They are led by freshman McKenna Lahr's 0.89 aces per set, tops in the country, and 17 overall, ranked seventh. Fairchild comes in at 59^th with 11 and Morgan Williams is 136^th with nine.
 
National Rankings
In addition to Fordham's prowess along the baseline, the Rams have players in the top-100 in several other categories, as well. Fairchild ranks 44^th overall, and first in the conference, with both 4.72 points per set and 118.0 points overall, and is 54^th in the nation with 101 kills, 66^th with 4.04 kills per set, and 144^th with a .354 attack percentage. Williams' 4.44 digs per set rank 108^th and her 111 total digs ranks 91^st. As a team, the Rams rank 17^th with an opponent hit percentage of .122, 68^th with a team hit percentage of .247, and 91^st with 319 total kills.
 
Williams Digs Into History
Despite a loss to Cleveland State, sophomore libero Williams tied a program record with 22 digs in just three sets two weeks ago in Fordham's home opener.
 
Up Next
The Rams have another tournament to compete in but this one's back on the east coast. Fordham will participate alongside LIU Brooklyn and St. Francis Brooklyn, plus hosts Columbia, at the Battle of the Big Apple next weekend.