FAIRFIELD, Conn. – A challenging non-conference schedule comes to a close this Tuesday as Fairfield University Volleyball visits St. John's. First serve from Carnesecca Arena in Queens is slated for 7 p.m.
The meeting with the Red Storm marks the second Big East opponent (Providence) for the Stags this fall and their fifth match against a program a major conference. Fairfield (4-6) has also played four contests against teams that joined the Stags in the 2016 NCAA Championship field as they prepare for the upcoming Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) slate.
A Milestone Win Highlights the 2017 Fairfield Invitational
This past weekend at the Fairfield Invitational, the Stags earned a 3-1 victory over four-time defending America East Champion New Hampshire. The triumph over the Wildcats was the 400th collegiate head coaching win for Head Coach
Todd Kress and featured the 1,000th kill as a Stag for senior co-captain
Skyler Day.
Fairfield also tangled with Washington State – a team that reached the NCAA Championship Second Round in 2016 – on both Friday and Saturday night on George Bisacca Court at Alumni Hall. The weekend marked the first appearances by a Pac-12 Volleyball team at the Stags' home venue.
Fairfield at St. John's
Tuesday, Sept. 12 @ 7 p.m.
St. John's All-Access (Audio) | Live Stats
The Red Storm welcomes the Stags to Carnesecca Arena boasting a record of 7-3. St. John's wins include sweeps of New Hampshire, Colgate and Sacramento State while the blemishes on their mark came at the hands of Connecticut, Temple and Cornell. The Red Storm went 16-15 last fall with a 7-11 tally in the Big East.
Julia Cast has been the leader of the Red Storm attack with 3.97 kills per set on .241 hitting. Hanna Wagner provides power from the middle of the offense with 1.84 kills per set with a .373 hitting percentage. The attack is managed by 2016 First Team All-Big East and co-Freshman of the Year honoree Erica Di Maulo, who has doled out 10.55 assists per frame while running the offense to a collective .239 hitting percentage.
On the defensive end, Amanda Sanabia and Delaney D'Amore have registered 3.81 and 3.71 digs per set, respectively. The Red Storm's formidable performance at the net has been guided by 43 blocks from Danisha Moss and 39 from Wagner. As a unit, St. John's has aggregated 92 team blocks in 31 sets of action to date.
Fairfield won last season's meeting at Alumni Hall – the first victory of what became the nation's longest winning streak at 22 matches. The 3-2 victory over the Red Storm saw Fairfield erase a 2-0 deficit en route to toppling a Big East foe for the first time since 2009. The triumph was led by a standout performance from
Kaitlyn Fisher, who garnered a then-career-high 15 kills on .636 hitting (15-1-22) and eight blocks en route to MAAC Player of the Week honors.
Skyler Day added a team-best 16 kills in the win, and
Taylor Rudeen posted 18 digs from the libero spot.
Up Next
The Stags' defense of their 2016 MAAC Championship begins this weekend, Sept. 16-17, with back-to-back trips to Iona and Manhattan. Action returns to Alumni Hall the following weekend for a visit from MAAC Volleyball's New Jersey contingent – Rider and Saint Peter's – on Sept. 23-24.
