FAIRFIELD, Conn. – At this time last year, Head Coach Todd Kress was welcoming 10 newcomers to the Fairfield University volleyball program, looking to revamp a Stags team that has been consistently among the top squads in the MAAC for nearly two decades.
Twelve months later, the scene couldn't be more different as Kress brings 10 returners back into the fold – the nucleus from a team that won the 2015 MAAC Championship and has been tabbed to repeat in the Preseason Coaches' Poll. With the start of the season just a few days away, the Stags have already felt the difference.
“Compared to last year, we're able to concentrate more on volleyball and less on getting accustomed to each other and becoming a team,” said Kress, who collected his conference-record fourth MAAC Coach of the Year Award in 2015. “It's a credit to our student-athletes, both the returners and newcomers, for doing a great job of staying focused and doing what they had to do physically over the summer to come in ready to get to work.”
Despite the consistency of a roster that includes 10 returning student-athletes, Fairfield will still enter 2016 as one of the youngest teams in the MAAC. This year's edition of the Stags boasts just one senior – co-captain Megan O'Sullivan – and a combined total of 11 freshmen and sophomores. Regardless of the numbers, Fairfield is not lacking in valuable experience.
“You can't teach the experience we gained last year from winning the MAAC and going out to Texas for NCAAs,” said Kress. “With the returners having been through all of that already, we don't feel as young as the roster says we are.”
O'Sullivan and junior Megan Theiller will once again take the reins as co-captains of the Stags in 2016. A member of the 2016 Preseason All-MAAC squad following a First Team All-MAAC campaign last fall, O'Sullivan averaged 2.73 kills from the middle of the Fairfield offense, also leading the team and ranking second in the conference with a .306 hitting percentage. A 2015 MAAC All-Championship Team pick, O'Sullivan had a career-high 18 kills in the Stags' five-set win over Manhattan in the semifinal round. She was also one of Fairfield's defensive leaders with 0.93 blocks per set, including eight matches with a hand in five or more rejections.
Two years removed from MAAC Rookie of the Year laurels in 2014, Theiller was the Most Valuable Player of the 2015 MAAC Championship after posting double-doubles in both of the team's postseason wins – including a career-high 22-kill performance in the MAAC Championship match. She ranked seventh in the conference with 3.11 kills per set, reaching double figures in 20 matches, and notched 2.98 digs per frame.
Skyler Day is Theiller's foil on the outside. The junior was tabbed as the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year earlier this month after a First Team All-MAAC campaign in 2015. Day led the MAAC with 420 kills in her first season at Fairfield, sending home 3.59 finishers per set. She also contributed 2.94 digs per frame en route to a team-leading 18 double-doubles. Day notched a double-double in both of the Stags' MAAC Championship victories to claim a spot on All-Championship Team.
A quartet of sophomores will also return to helm the front row. Oyinkansola Akinola earned a spot on the MAAC All-Rookie Team last fall after averaging 1.61 kills per set and patrolling the net defensively with a team-best 98 blocks (0.92 per set). Kaitlyn Fisher added 1.31 kills and 0.58 blocks per frame, with Sydney Williams notching 1.42 kills and 0.88 send-backs per set. Nora Quinn appeared in nine sets as a freshman, recording four kills and 13 blocks – including three solo send-backs.
The Fairfield offense was run through setter Sydney Buckley in 2015. Now a junior, Buckley averaged 7.93 assists per set with five outings of 50 or more helpers last season. She also registered 1.66 digs per frame with 27 blocks, 23 kills and 14 service aces in 2015. Buckley handed out 12.44 assists per set during the MAAC Championship, recording double-doubles in each victory with 13 digs against both Manhattan and Marist.
In the back row, the Stags welcome back a pair of defensive specialists in sophomores Mallory Bechtold and Taylor Rudeen, both of whom saw time at libero and in the defensive specialist spot. Becholtd averaged 3.93 digs per set with 21 service aces, and Rudeen picked up 3.75 digs per frame while servicing up 19 aces. The duo became the first set of teammates to earn MAAC Libero of the Week laurels in the same season since the award – formerly named the MAAC Defensive Player of the Week – was limited strictly to the libero position beginning in the 2012 season.
The Stags will also introduce five freshmen into the mix: outside hitters Sonja Radulovic and Mayda Garcia, setter Manuela Nicolini, middle blocker Lauren Montgomery and defensive specialist Jamie Calandro. Fairfield is one of five MAAC teams with five or more freshmen on the 2016 roster.
The 2016 season opens on Aug. 26-27 with four matches in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Action comes to George Bisacca Court at Alumni Hall for the first time in 2016 on Sept. 9-10 for the Fairfield Invitational. The Stags will host Sacred Heart, James Madison and Villanova in the two-day, round-robin event.
Fairfield's non-conference schedule is one of the toughest in program history, featuring five opponents that posted a final 2015 RPI better than the Stags' final ranking of 158: Villanova (39), Arizona State (40), James Madison (75), New Mexico (107) and St. John's (125).
“Our non-conference schedule will prepare us for conference play, but it's also a look at the big picture of college volleyball. It's a chance to step outside the region and measure ourselves against the nation,” said Kress.
The Stags' official defense of their 2015 MAAC Championship begins on Sept. 17-18 with trips to Rider and Saint Peter's.
For the first time since 2012, Alumni Hall will host the MAAC Championship from Nov. 18-20. The top six seeds receive berths the conference postseason with the two highest seeds earning byes to the semifinal round.
"We need to remember how hard we had to work to achieve our goals last season,” Kress said. “It took our best effort every day to be successful, and we need to bring the same effort to be successful this year.”
