LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – The Stags are a much different team than the squad that played Siena in the beginning of October.  Since the Saints defeated the Stags 3-1 at Alumni Hall on October 4, Fairfield has won seven of their last eight matches.  Now the Stags returned the favor by beating the Saints 3-1 (19-25, 25-15, 25-16, 25-20) on their home floor.  The victory moves the Stags into second place in the MAAC and gives the squad a season-long four-match winning streak.

“I was very proud of our team tonight,” Head Coach Todd Kress said.  “After a flat first set, we rebounded and played some solid volleyball to beat a very good Siena team.”

Fairfield (13-10, 9-4 MAAC) hit just .167 in the first set with six attack errors.  The Stags also allowed four Siena (10-14, 8-4 MAAC) service aces during the opening frame with two coming from Erin Bies to end the set.  The senior had four aces during the first meeting with the Stags.  Siena would win the set 25-19.

The Stags would show the difference in their squad following the opening stanza.  Fairfield would not allow another service ace to the aggressive serving Siena side.  The Stags would also hit .314 the rest of the way.  Fairfield was led by Caitlin Stapleton in the second set, with the senior hitting .500 on four kills on six swings.

“I thought that Cait's offensive energy tonight was a key to the win as well as our middle transition,” Kress said.

Stapleton hit .440 during the final three sets. 

Fairfield also forced the Saints to a .057 hitting percentage in the second frame.  Fairfield led by as many as 10 in the second with the score 24-14 after a kill by Megan O'Sullivan.  Hadley Orr would find the floor to close the set and tie up the match.

The Stags did not release that energy hitting .387 in the third frame on just four attack errors.  The two middle blockers carried the Stags through the frame with O'Sullivan and Lindsay Weaver combining to hit .600 with seven kills.  Weaver had five of those kills on seven attempts.

In what became the final set, Fairfield tallied 16 kills and did not trail.  In the match, there was only two ties and zero lead changes.  Megan Theiller tallied four kills and two block solos with three digs to pick up six points.  Stapleton had a team-high 7.5 points in the fourth with six kills on a .455 hitting percentage.

“Our effort, energy, and passion has been at a much higher level the last few weeks,” Kress said.  “When we play with that type of energy, our errors go down and our quality goes up.”

Three players reached double digits in kills, with Stapleton tallying a team-high 16.  Rachel Stoklosa tallied a match-high 17 kills for the Saints.  Four Fairfield student-athletes recorded 10+ digs with Carsen Mata picking up a team-best 16.  The reigning MAAC Libero of the Week, Camille Coffey tallied 13 digs and dished out seven assists.

With the victory, Fairfield has recorded their fourth straight win for the first time this season.  Fairfield will look to make it five straight wins when they travel to Quinnipiac on Saturday, November 1.