Contributed to FairfieldStags.com by Dan Montgomery '19 and Drew Kingsley '07
 
With 10 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships to their name, there are certainly plenty of teams and moments over the years that resonate with Fairfield Volleyball fans. Twenty years ago, Head Coach Todd Kress fielded perhaps the best of those 10 squads as the 1998 edition of the Stags put together a season for the ages.
 
The 1998 Stags went a perfect 9-0 in MAAC play and 14-0 at Alumni Hall as a part of a 35-2 final record that remains the program standard. In the process, Fairfield locked up its second consecutive MAAC Championship and NCAA postseason berth with a loaded roster than boasted four eventual Fairfield Athletics Hall of Famers.
 
"I have nothing but great memories of that 1998 team. That group was one of the hardest working teams I've ever coached," said Kress. "Those student-athletes – many of whom won two, three or even four MAAC Championships in their Fairfield careers – set the standard that we continue to try to uphold in our program today."
 
After early-season wins over regional foes Lehigh, Central Connecticut State, Northeastern and Seton Hall, a trip to Oxford, Ohio was the first sign that the Stags were poised for an historic campaign in 1998. In three matches in Ohio, Fairfield knocked off Alabama of the SEC, tournament host Miami University and the Big Ten's Iowa. The victory over Miami remains one of the best regular season wins in program history – the RedHawks finished their campaign as the Mid-American Conference Champions with a final RPI of 25.
 
After a win over Hartford in mid-September, the Stags made their next primetime trek to Houston with a record of 8-0. Though the Stags fell, 3-1, to UTEP to take their first loss of the campaign, the weekend proved to be a launching point for an unprecedented run. Fairfield bounced back from the loss with a sweep of host Rice University and capped the trip with the season's second win over an SEC foe with a 3-1 triumph over Mississippi State.
 
For the next three weeks, the Stags stormed into MAAC play with a 5-0 start to the conference slate to go along with wins over St. John's and Princeton. The run staked Fairfield to a 17-1 record and a nine-match winning streak leading into one of the biggest matches and most historic nights in program history: a Saturday, Oct. 10 visit from the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.
 
A raucous crowd of 969 fans – a record at the time and still the second-largest crowd ever for a regular-season match at Alumni Hall – packed the bleachers as the Stags went toe-to-toe with Notre Dame for five thrilling sets. In the end, Fairfield shook off a 15-4 drubbing in the fourth frame to power past the Irish, 17-15, in the fifth and claim victory over a Notre Dame squad that went on win the Big East Championship and reach the NCAA Championship Second Round.
 
"This was a special night. I remember the night before the match, we practiced late to put in some new wrinkles in our offense to combat Notre Dame's height advantage," recalled Kress. "So many players had great games for us. Machel Craig and Sara Lein led our attack, Liz Bower had a triple-double – I don't think they had seen an offensive setter like her before. The atmosphere in Alumni Hall was electric and the team earned that win. On that night, we were better than Notre Dame."
 
In the coming weeks, the Stags continued their siege on the MAAC to complete a second straight 9-0 regular season trek through the conference. In addition, Fairfield would beat a pair of Big East foes in Villanova and Boston College. The Stags also dominated the Ivy League ranks, going 4-0 against the Ancient Eight in 1998 including a sweep of the eventual Ivy League Champion, Brown.
 
Fairfield had run its record to 31-1, sparked by 23 victories in a row, with the 1998 MAAC Championship looming in Orlando. The Stags powered through the tournament – sweeping Canisius and Manhattan before twice knocking off Saint Peter's in straight sets to coast through the double-elimination tournament – and hoisted the MAAC Championship trophy for the second straight year. Jen McLaughlin was named the MAAC Championship MVP for the second consecutive season, joined on the All-Tournament Team by Corrine Carlson and Joanne Saunders.
 
The NCAA Championship sent the Stags to the University Park, Pa. regional, where Fairfield was pitted against 21-10 Clemson – an at-large selection out of the ACC. The injury-plagued Stags held their own against the Tigers but ultimately landed on the short side of a 3-0 sweep (15-8, 15-12, 15-11).
 
"It's unfortunate that we weren't 100 percent going into the NCAA Tournament. But that loss to Clemson doesn't diminish the work ethic, sacrifice and determination that got that us to that point," said Kress.
 
The loss ended the Stags' winning streak at 27 matches – still a program record – to cap the 35-2 campaign. The season saw Sara Lein tabbed as the MAAC Player of the Year, and she was joined on the All-MAAC Team by teammates Liz Bower and Jen McLaughlin. Kress earned his third consecutive MAAC Coach of the Year Award and was also recognized by his peers regionally as the AVCA District II Coach of the Year. Bower, McLaughlin, Corrine Carlson and Joanne Saunders have all since been enshrined in the Fairfield Athletics Hall of Fame.