PHILADELPHIA – La Salle volleyball continues their home stand this weekend as they host Fordham and Rhode Island. Prior to Sunday's matchup against Rhode Island the Explorers will celebrate senior day and recognize the program's three seniors.
Scouting Fordham...La Salle Explorers (9-17, 2-7 A-10) vs Fordham Rams (2-21, 2-7 A-10)Friday, Oct. 31 | 7 p.m.Live Statistics | Sign Up For Text Alerts Fordham comes to Philadelphia after splitting their two games last weekend. They picked up their second conference win of the season on Friday with a 3-1 win over Davidson, before dropping straight sets on Sunday afternoon to VCU. The first meeting this year between Fordham and La Salle was a 3-0 victory for the Rams, despite two closely competitive sets from the Explorers.
The Rams rank near the bottom of the league in most offensive categories. They are hitting just .083 on the year, while allowing opponents to hit .244 against them on the year, the second worst rate in the Atlantic 10. Fordham has only averaged 9.96 kills per set on the season, which makes them the only team to not average at least 10 kills per set in the league.
In conference play freshman Sarah Skelton has been big defensively for the Rams. In conference games this year she is averaging 1.04 blocks per set which is top 10 overall in the league. Fordham have also utilized five players having over 100 digs on the season defensively. Freshman Grace Muller leads the way with 221 digs on the season, averaging 2.91 digs per set.
Offensively the Rams have struggled to find consistent offense. Only three players have over 100 kills on the season for them, with graduate student Lisa Hipp leading the way with 172, followed by juniors Brianna O'Neil (165), and Brennan Delsing (150).
Scouting Rhode Island...La Salle Explorers (9-17, 2-7 A-10) vs. Rhode Island Rams (15-7, 6-3 A-10)Sunday, Nov. 2 | 1 p.m.Live Statistics | Sign Up For Text Alerts Rhode Island enters the weekend on a two game winning streak after grabbing a tight 3-2 victory over VCU last weekend before sweeping Davidson in straight sets. The Rams currently sit tied for second place in the conference, two games behind conference leading Dayton.
Junior Franki Darnold enters the weekend leading the Atlantic 10 in kills per set. She has averaged 4.20 kills per frame which ranks her 34
th in the nation in that category. She is also among the top 50 in the country by averaging 4.63 points per set which is good for third in the conference. She has been aided offensively by senior Catie Steffen (227 kills), sophomore Layne Self (168), and junior Cate Seman (135).
The Rams defense boasts five players who have at least 100 digs on the season. Juniors Lizzy Scanlon and Franki Darnold lead with way with 290 and 203 digs respectively. Sophomore Layne Self has also been big at the net defensively, totaling 98 total blocks on the year, which is good for fourth in the conference.
Scouting the Explorers...La Salle enters the weekend after splitting their action last week. The Explorers dropped straight sets to George Washington Friday evening before grabbing a thrilling 3-1 win over George Mason on Sunday afternoon.
The Explorers have steadily improved their hitting percentage over the past few weekends. As a team the Explorers have hit over .200 in four of their last seven matches to improve their season percentage to .159. Junior
Kelly Perillo leads the way offensively for the Explorers with 277 kills on the season. Senior
Jennifer Whelan (178), junior
Laura Kuhlmeier (175), and sophomore
Ashley Felton (173) have all also contributed to the offensive effort. Whelan currently leads the way on the team with a .265 hitting percentage on the season.
Defensively, La Salle has utilized four players with over 200 digs on the season. Freshman
Bryanna Davis and junior
Erin Noga are currently tied for the team lead with 267 digs on the season. Noga is currently ranked eighth in the conference by averaging 3.1 digs per set. Sophomore
Ashley Felton has come up big in recent wins with her defense at the net. Felton has led the team in blocks in their last three victories over Davidson, Delaware State, and George Mason respectively.
The offense has been run through junior
Michelle Healy all season. She has tallied 859 assists on the season thus far, averaging 9.14 assists per set which is good for seventh in the conference. Healy currently sits in tenth place on the all-time assists list at La Salle, and trails ninth place Amanda Woods by 55 assists. She has also been a huge boast in the Explorers serve game this season with 39 aces on the season. That total is the second best in the conference and is good for tenth overall in the nation.
Next UpLa Salle closes out their home schedule next weekend as they host Duquesne on Friday at 7 p.m.
