Volleyball at Rhode Island on Saturday

Live Stats | @FordhamVB on Twitter
 
Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham volleyball team (9-15, 2-9 A-10) have just three more matches left in the 2018 regular season and one left on the road, this Saturday at Rhode Island (7-16, 1-10 A-10) at 6 p.m. The match will not be streamed online but fans can follow along with live stats via the link above.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams fell in four sets at La Salle last Friday night and in straight sets at Duquesne on Sunday. Against the Explorers, Fordham rebounded from an opening-set loss with a 25-23 second-set victory, but the hosts regrouped with the long break and took sets three and four handedly. The two sides put up nearly identical numbers in the first two frames but La Salle hit .323 and .368, respectively, in the final two sets compared to the visitors' marks of .148 and .237. The Rams committed just two more errors than the hosts, 20-18, but were out-hit, .273 to .193, and in kills, 63-51. Senior Natalie Martinez matched her career-high with 14 kills on 30 attacks (.433 hit percentage) to lead the offense, while classmate Olivia LaPorta reached a season-high six blocks for a third time this year. The Rams out-blocked the Explorers, 8-1. Kaitlin Morley enjoyed her 13^th double-double of the season with 12 kills and a team-high 16 digs.
 
Fordham played Duquesne very tough in Pittsburgh on Sunday but the hosts ultimately pulled out wins in all three sets, 25-23, 25-22, 29-27. Fordham held leads in each frame but the Dukes kept pace with their opponents and made moves late in each set to snatch the victory. The offense was led by McKenna Lahr's 12 kills, sharing the match-high, while setters Sophia Plett and Makaela Tanaka each notched 18 assists in running the attack. Morgan Williams finished with a match-high 18 digs to lead the defense, while LaPorta paced the defense with four blocks.
 
Series History
Rhody leads the all-time series, 31-9, dating back to 1995 when Fordham entered the Atlantic 10. The (Bronx) Rams were victorious in five sets earlier this season at home in the opening match of league play, breaking the program record with 17.5 team blocks in a five-set match and also snapping a nine-match losing skid against their rivals since the start of the 2013 season. Fordham started the match off hot, hitting .520 as a group in the opening set with 14 kills and just one error in attack while the visitors tallied nine kills to eight errors in the frame. Rhody answered with a .643 attacking efficiency in the second set, with 20 kills, and took the third set, as well, before the hosts rallied for clutch wins in sets four and five. Kaitlin Morley notched a double-double of a match-high 15 kills and 11 digs, while Elise Benjamin anchored the defense with a career-high 11 blocks, falling just one short of Randi Ewing's record set in 2012. Fordham has nearly identical home/road splits against Rhode Island and are 4-15 all-time in Kingston.
 
Conference & National Ranks
Individual

• Kaitilin Morley 317 kills (A10: 4^th, NCAA: 100^th)
• Kaitlin Morley 3.34 kills per set (A10: 5^th)
• Kaitlin Morley 347.5.0 points (A10: 4^th, NCAA: 134^th)
• McKenna Lahr 253 kills (A10: 7^th)
• McKenna Lahr 2.72 kills per set (A10: T-10^th)
• Morgan Williams 384 digs (A10: 3^rd, NCAA: 125^th)
• Morgan Williams 4.22 digs per set (A10: 7^th)
• Elise Benjamin 1.44 blocks per set (A10: 2^nd)
• Makaela Tanaka 7.23 assists per set (A10: 7^th)
• Sophia Plett 7.14 assists per set (A10: 8^th)

 
Team

• 1,120 kills (A10: 3^rd, NCAA: 170^th)
• 1,050 assists (A10: 3^rd, NCAA: 168^th)
• 1,444 digs (A10: 3^rd, NCAA: 103^rd)
• 98 aces (A10: 9^th NCAA: 256^th)
• 207.5 total blocks (A10: 3^rd, NCAA: 88^th)
• 2.18 blocks per set (A10: 3^rd, NCAA: 109^th)

 
Williams Climbing the All-Time Ranks
Junior libero Morgan Williams has missed just four sets in her entire Fordham career and, as a result, is already up to fifth all-time in program history with 1,160 career digs. Her career rate of 3.87 digs per set is the current benchmark for the program, besting Stephanie Frost's ('07) mark by .41. After coming close a year ago but settling for second, Williams' 4.22 digs per set average this year would best Jenn Shea's long-standing record of 4.10, set back in 1994. Williams has a chance this season to move past Kailee May's 1,214 career digs into fourth all-time.
 
Back-to-Back Defensive Player of the Week Winners
Two Fordham juniors earned their first career Defensive Player of the Week honors and the program's first since 2012. It's also just the third time two different Rams won the accolade during the same season. Morgan Williams did so first followed by Elise Benjamin's torrid stretch at the net a week later. Read more about Elise's and Morgan's weeks at the respective links.
 
Preseason Poll
Fordham was selected to repeat its finishes of the past two years and end this upcoming season seventh it was announced in the Atlantic 10's preseason poll voted on by the league's head coaches. The Rams garnered 36 votes. Read more about it.
 
Up Next
Fordham returns home for its final two matches of the regular season, hosting George Washington and George Mason on back-to-back days, Friday and Saturday, both at 3 p.m. The latter will be Senior Day, honoring the team's four seniors in a pre-match ceremony. Both matches will be streamed live on ESPN+.