Box Score

LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. - The Fairfield University volleyball team held off match-point and then rallied for an impressive 3-2 (22-25, 25-21, 19-25, 26-24, 15-11) victory over Siena College this afternoon in a close Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) contest. With the win, the Stags extended their winning streak to seven matches and recorded their 500th program victory.

Fairfield (10-11; 8-3 MAAC) was staring down match point in the fourth set, trailing 24-23. But a fortuitous service error by Siena (10-11; 9-2 MAAC) gave the Stags an extra life. Junior Caitlin Stapleton followed with a kill to give Fairfield a 25-24 lead. Stapleton then teamed with Maddie FitzPatrick to blocks the Saints' Taylor Akana, who had been nearly unstoppable on attack all day, to give Fairfield the win and force a fifth set.

With the score resting at 9-9 in the deciding game, Marilyn Peizer delivered a kill to spark a 5-0 run for the Stags. The run was capped off by a FitzPatrick kill to give Fairfield the 14-9 advantage. The Saints got two of the points back, but then committed an attack error to send the Stags off with a 15-11 win.

Peizer finished with a career-high 18 kills on .292 hitting for her sixth-straight match with double-digit kills. Stapleton posted 10 kills with five total blocks, including the 200th of her career. Stapleton also checked into Fairfield's career block assists chart with 180 block assists. FitzPatrick had eight kills on .615 hitting and seven total blocks, all of which were career-highs.

Sophomore Hadley Orr notched 12 kills and nine digs while senior Hayley Moyer recorded 10 kills on .316 hitting. Senior Rachel Romansky had 50 of the Stags' 55 assists on the afternoon. Defensively, Carsen Mata had 17 digs while Bella Guanciale had 10 digs.

Fairfield held a 62-61 advantage in kills while service aces were even at six apiece. Siena out-blocked the Stags, 13-11, and held a slight 60-57 advantage in digs. Akana finished with 23 kills and 14 digs for the Saints.

The last three meetings between Fairfield and Siena, dating back to the 2012 MAAC Championship final, have been 3-2 decisions. The Stags have taken two of those contests; the MAAC Championship match last season and today's match.

Since becoming a varsity program in 1985, the Fairfield volleyball team has an overall record of 500-409. Fairfield is back in action on October 26 when it hosts Quinnipiac University at 1pm in Alumni Hall.