LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Fairfield University Volleyball opened action at the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship this afternoon with a 3-0 sweep of Manhattan at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The fourth-seeded Stags upended the ninth-seeded Jaspers by set scores of 25-21, 25-10 and 25-18.
 
"We worked on some little details in practice this week, and we saw improvement in those areas on the court today," said Head Coach Todd Kress. "We will continue to fine tune things as we prepare for our next match tomorrow."
 
With the win, the Stags advance to the MAAC Championship Second Round, returning to the court on Friday, Nov. 16 at 12:30 p.m. Fairfield's opponent will be determined at the completion of today's opening round.
 
The win was the 200th victory as Fairfield's head coach for Kress. He is the program's all-time leader in wins and matches coached (295), and owns 434 wins overall in 23 seasons as a Division I head coach. Kress is a six-time MAAC Coach of the Year and has led Fairfield to five MAAC Championships and NCAA postseason bids (1997, 1998, 2015, 2016, 2017).
 
In today's match, Fairfield (13-15) was led on the attack by 12 kills on .333 hitting from Julia Kallen and 10 finishers at a .444 clip by Sydney Williams. Mayda Garcia put down eight kills, Luci Albertson registered seven and Kaitlyn Fisher posted six. Supplementing the offense, Sonja Radulovic landed one kill from the back row, and Alexis Rich dumped over a pair from the setter spot. Rich managed the Stags to a .259 hitting percentage with a match-leading 41 assists.
 
Sophia Hosokawa chipped in to the scoring effort with two service aces to go along with one winner apiece landed by Kallen and Albertson.
 
Defensively, Taylor Rudeen paced the back row with 22 digs – her third-straight 20+ dig effort and 12th of her senior campaign in the libero jersey. Also in today's match, Garcia added 12 digs, Kallen picked up eight and Radulovic posted six. At the net, Albertson had a hand in all three of the Stags' team blocks, including a solo stuff. Garcia and Rich each got a piece of one rejection alongside Albertson.
 
Manhattan (5-27) was led offensively by four kills apiece from Casey Monroe and Erin Hoener. Abby Wilde dished out 18 assists managed the attack, and Reyn Hoffman had a team-best 10 digs as the Jaspers' libero.
 
Fairfield's Second Round opponent will be Marist if the fifth-seeded Red Foxes advance past eighth-seeded Saint Peter's this evening. Should the Peacocks prevail in that matchup, the Stags will draw the winner of Thursday's final First Round match featuring sixth-seeded Niagara and seventh-seeded Quinnipiac.