Volleyball Back on the Road this Weekend at Duquesne, Dayton

Friday: Watch | Live Stats
Sunday: Watch | Live Stats
 
Bronx, N.Y. – The Fordham volleyball team (5-11, 2-3 A-10) is back on the road carrying a two-match win streak into contests at Duquesne (8-10, 3-4) and Dayton (14-5, 7-0) on Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m., respectively.     
 
Last Time Out
The Rams swept George Washington on Friday night, highlights of which you can watch here, and defeated George Mason in four sets on Sunday. Read about the wins here and here.
 
Where They Rank
The Rams find themselves in the top half of every statistical category within the Atlantic 10 – 4^th in hitting percentage (.198), 5^th in kills per set (12.05), and 3^rd in blocks per set (2.10) to name just three.
 
At the individual level, several Rams are enjoying a terrific start to their seasons. Chloe Pejouan leads the league with 1.58 blocks per set over 33 frames; the next highest player is Dayton's Alayna Yates at 1.22, though Izzy Fichtel is 10^th at 0.91. Whitley Moody is third with both 3.58 kills per set and an even 4.00 points per set, while two Rams are in the top-10 for hit percentage: Fichtel is sixth at .297 and Aria De La Rosa is ninth at .279. Next, Mallory Lipski is second in the league with 4.72 digs per set, while Megan Brzozowski is third with 8.56 assists per set.
 
Lipski is 51^st nationally in that stat, while Moody is 41^st with 11.00 attacks per set, 115^th with 3.58 kills per set, and 138^th with 211 total kills.
 
In the Fordham program ranks, Moody's kills per set rate would be fifth-highest in a single season, Pejouan's blocks per set rate would be second-highest behind only teammate Isabel Fichtel's freshman campaign, and Lipski's dig rate would be third-highest.
 
As a team, the Rams' 2.10 blocks per set are currently tied with the 2006 squad for sixth all-time, while their collective .198 hit percentage ranks solo sixth.
 
Brzozowski Enters All-Time Top-10 in Assists
As you could guess by the title, junior setter Megan Brzozowski moved into 10^th all-time, passing Mary Diamantidis ('10), on Sunday against George Mason. Brzozowski is up to 1,442 with the Rams and has her sights set on ninth – Abigail Konovodoff's 1,647.
 
Lipski Named A-10 Defensive Player of the Week
The Louisville native earned her first piece of league hardware by averaging nearly six digs per set over eight frames of the Rose Hill Classic. Read all about it here.
 
Moody Named A-10 Player of the Week
Moody, the reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year and a three-time Rookie of the Week in the Spring, earned her first Player of the Week award and Fordham's first since 2017 several weeks ago. Read all about her weekend here.
 
Series Histories
Duquesne – The Dukes lead the series, 37-5, since the Rams joined the Atlantic 10 in 1995. Fordham is 2-19 all-time in Pittsburgh with those two wins coming in the late 90's. In their most recent meeting, however, in 2019, Fordham won in four sets at home, snapping a 15-year winless streak. In that match, Joey Landeros led current Rams with 11 kills, hitting a team-high .370, Aria De La Rosa led with six blocks, plus eight kills, Mallory Lipski dug out 14 balls, and Megan Brzozowski and Makaela Tanaka each had 22 assists and seven digs, the latter adding a career-high three aces.
 
Dayton – A perennial power in the A-10 and, sometimes, nationally, the Flyers have unsurprisingly dominated the all-time series against the Rams, 41-1, with Fordham's lone victory coming in 1997 in five sets in the Bronx. Most recently, Dayton won in straight sets in the semifinals of this past Spring's 2020* Atlantic 10 Championship. Then-senior McKenna Lahr earned All-Championship honors with an 11-kill, 11-dig double-double.
 
Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll
As a result of their effort in the spring, the Rams were predicted by the league's head coaches to repeat their fourth-place finish in the annual preseason poll, the highest Fordham has ever finished in it, besting the previous high of sixth in 2009.
 
VB Earns AVCA Team Academic Award
For the second straight year and third time in the last four, the Rams earned the USMC/AVCA Team Academic award for programs with a cumulative 3.3 GPA or higher.
 
Up Next
The Rams remain on the road to play at the Georges – Mason on Friday, October 22, at 7 p.m. and Washington the next afternoon at 4 p.m. After that it's six straight home matches.