Box Score LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – The Fairfield University volleyball team began a five-match road trip with a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference win at Siena on Saturday afternoon. Skyler Day recorded her third consecutive double-double with 14 kills and 16 digs in the 3-1 win over the defending MAAC Champions. Fairfield took the contest by scores of 25-21, 25-21, 14-25 and 26-24.
Day's double-double was her sixth of the fall for the Stags (7-8, 3-3 MAAC). She was joined on the attack by Megan Theiller with eight kills and seven finishers apiece from the swings of Oyinkansola Akinola and Chanel Cooper. In the middle, Megan O'Sullivan and Sydney Williams each hammered home six kills.
The offense was run through Kiley Lingenfelter and Sydney Buckley, who doled out 18 and 21 assists, respectively. Buckley also dumped over two kills of her own.
In the back row, Mallory Bechtold led all players with 27 digs. Day and Theiller chipped in defensively with 16 and 13, respectively. Cooper headed the effort at the net with a hand in four of Fairfield's seven team blocks. O'Sullivan was a part of three Stag send-backs.
The Stags also scored six points from the serving game. O'Sullivan and Bechtold each landed two winners, while Day and Taylor Rudeen served up one ace apiece.
Siena's Briana Flagg led all players with 21 kills and rounded out a double-double with 11 digs. Haley Howell distributed 37 assists, and Kalehua Katagiri fortified the back row with 17 digs.
The Stags took the first two sets by identical tallies of 25-21 – only trailing once in that span – to claim a 2-0 advantage in the match. Siena stayed alive with a 25-14 decision in the third, setting up a dramatic fourth frame.
Fairfield built a fast lead in the set, extending it to 14-10 to induce a Saints' timeout. After the stoppage, Siena rattled off five consecutive points to take control at 15-14. The run continued to 23-18, with Siena holding serve and standing just two points shy of sending the contest to a deciding fifth stanza.
At that juncture, Cooper started the Stags' comeback with a kill. Day controlled the action for the next three rallies, posting a solo block and back-to-back finishers to pull Fairfield within one point at 23-22. Cooper would then team up with Williams for a rejection to knot the set at 23-23. After Siena picked up the next point to earn a set-point chance, an attack error tied the frame for the fifth and final time at 24-24. Day's 14th kill of the contest staked Fairfield to a match-point opportunity, and the Stags wasted no time in cashing in as Bechtold served up an ace to complete the clinching win, 26-24.
“Today was a great team win,” said Head Coach Todd Kress. “We've struggled when faced with adversity throughout the early stages of the season, but today, we embraced it. Everybody stepped up when we needed it most, down 23-18 in the fourth set. Our next step is to build of the momentum from this win.”
The next step for Fairfield is a trip to Poughkeepsie, where the Stags will meet host Marist – the 2014 regular season champions of the MAAC – for a 1 p.m. contest.
