LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Fairfield University Volleyball's run in the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship came to an end on Friday evening in the semifinals against top-seeded Iona. The fourth-seeded Stags defeated Manhattan in straight sets yesterday and swept Quinnipiac this afternoon at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. to reach the semifinal round.
 
Tonight's match against the Gaels was decided by set scores of 25-19, 25-14 and 25-16. Fairfield wraps up the 2018 campaign with an overall record of 14-16.
 
"I thought we did some good things in our two matches to get to this point and started to find a bit of rhythm, but Iona did some things to get us out of our rhythm and we also just didn't dig deep enough," said Head Coach Todd Kress. "Playing back-to-back matches today was tough, but we put ourselves in that position as far as seeding with how we finished in the regular season."
 
Fairfield was led against the Gaels by seven kills from Mayda Garcia and five on the right side by Laura Seeger. Sydney Williams and Julia Kallen each added four finishers, with Luci Albertson, Nora Quinn and Alexis Rich all chipping in with one. Rich distributed 20 assists at the helm of the attack.
 
The defensive effort was guided by 14 digs from Kallen. Taylor Rudeen added nine at the libero spot, closing out her career with 1,600 digs to rank fourth all-time in Fairfield history. Garcia also notched nine digs and Rich picked up seven. At the net, Williams and Garcia each had a hand in three of the Stags' six team blocks.
 
Iona (19-7) was led by 11 kills apiece from Claire Archibald and Mia Bonsignore. Emma Roma piloted the Gaels with 36 assists, and Archibald and Jessica Paolucci split the team high in digs with 12 apiece. Iona will play second-seeded Canisius in tomorrow's MAAC Championship Match.
 
The Stags posted an 11-7 record in the MAAC regular season to earn the conference's fourth seed, the program's 23rd consecutive campaign with a winning record in conference play. The 2018 campaign was Todd Kress's ninth on the Fairfield sidelines.