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Bronx, N.Y. – Fresh off its first Atlantic 10 victory, the Fordham volleyball team (8-12, 1-7) will look to keep its momentum up with matches this weekend at home against Duquesne (9-13, 3-6) and La Salle (10-11, 4-5). First up are the Dukes this Friday night at 7 p.m.
 
Cancer Awareness Week
The team's match against the Flyers on October 18^th was the team's Cancer Awareness match, sponsored by New York Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital. Although it's over, you can still make a donation to help those in need. For more information, please click here.
 
Last Time Out
The Rams defeated Rhode Island with a convincing sweep last Saturday night, 25-23, 25-21, 25-21. Fordham utilized two rallies in the opening frames, turning a slim 19-16 deficit in the first into a 25-23 win. The Rams went on a 4-1 run to tie the set up at 20 and broke a 23-all deadlock with two straight points, capping the rally with a McKenna Lahr kill. Rhody led by double digits in the second set, 16-6, but the Rams buckled down and ripped off a 19-5 run the rest of the way. The frame was knotted back up, 21-21, but the Rams rattled off four straight points for the win. Morgan Williams, honored prematch with a commemorative ball for three single-match records broken in September, nearly broke the three-set record for digs but instead settled for tying it for a third time in her career, once each of the last three years, with 22. Kaitlin Morley and Olivia Fairchild each tallied nine kills, the former adding 15 digs, while Elise Benjamin led the defense with four blocks.
 
Series Histories
Duquesne – The Dukes lead the all-time series, 37-4, since 1995, including a 17-2 mark in the Bronx. Fordham last picked up a win in 2004 in five sets at home. Last year, the Dukes dropped just two sets over two matches.
 
La Salle – Fordham holds a 39-10 all-time series advantage over the Explorers since 1984. Fordham enjoyed 31 straight wins between 1998 and 2014. Since the start of the 2014 season, each school has four wins, however, with La Salle picking up a pair of 3-1 victories a year ago.
 
Williams, Rams Among Nation's Digs Leaders
Senior captain and libero Morgan Williams has racked up 468 digs already this season through 20 matches, good for an average of 5.92 per set. The former stat ranks 13^th in all of Division I, while the latter sits fifth. The team, as a whole, has averaged 18.29 digs per set, which ranks fourth in the country, while their 1,445 total digs sits 29^th. The Rams are also 29^th in attacks per set (37.65) and 65^th with a combined .181 opponent hit percentage. Defensively, the Rams are 139^th with 170.5 total blocks and, with 2.16 per set, are 107^th.
 
Williams Smashing Records
A three-time Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Week honoree this year, Morgan Williams has set four school records already this year, most recently becoming the school's all-time career leader in digs. She is up to 1,689 now, most in Fordham history. She is also averaging 4.31 per set for her career, which will smash the previous record, and is up to 5.92 per frame this year alone, which would smash her previously set record from last year (4.28). Her first record this year came when she initially broke the four-set mark for digs with 33 at Georgia State during opening weekend before breaking the overall single-match record with 42 digs in four frames at Dartmouth. The team also combined for 103 digs that day, a new four-set record, as well.
 
Though she didn't pick up any hardware for it, Williams added yet another record to her resume when she notched 39 digs at Rhode Island, breaking Maria Rodenberg's record of 38 for five-set matches, which also used to be the overall record. Williams has five matches of 30 or more digs this year already.
 
Fairchild Hits 1,000 Kills
The redshirt junior entered this season with 827 career kills after sitting out last year due to injury. This year, Fairchild has 191 kills and is now up to 1,018 for her career, becoming the 11^th Ram to reach the milestone and is now 10^th all-time. Fairchild is already the program's leader with 3.55 kills per set and is 10th with a .236 hit percentage. She is also seventh all-time with 126 career aces, 18 away from joining the top-five, and will soon join the top-10 for total attacks.
 
Pejouan Matches Blocks Record
At LIU, freshman Chloe Pejouan made the start and tallied 13 blocks, tying Marija Markovic's single-match record in four sets against Manhattan in 2006. She also surpassed Randi Ewing's five-set record of 12 from 2012.
 
Class of 2023
The Rams welcomed five new faces to the program with freshmen Megan Brzozowski, Mallory Lipski, Aria De La Rosa, Chloe Pejouan, and Aneliesa Cartledge. Read more about the rookies and their high school careers at the links.
 
Preseason Poll
The Rams, who finished ninth last year in the Atlantic 10, have been predicted to repeat that by the league's head coaches in the annual preseason poll. Read more here.
 
Up Next
The Rams have just two more home matches to go on the season, hosting VCU and Davidson, next Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., respectively. The latter is also Senior Day, in which four seniors will be honored in a prematch ceremony.