FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Highlighted by 13 home matches on George Bisacca Court at Alumni Hall and three matches against 2017 NCAA Championship participants, Head Coach Todd Kress has unveiled a competitive schedule for Fairfield University Volleyball as the Stags prepare for the 2018 season and the quest for a fourth straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship.
 
"We are all very excited about the opportunities on our 2018 schedule," noted Kress, a six-time MAAC Coach of the Year. "With three NCAA postseason teams on the slate along with our home tournament and the first-ever Connecticut Challenge, the schedule is one of our most challenging to date and also provides us many opportunities to strengthen our RPI while preparing for a wide-open 2018 MAAC campaign."
 
The Stags start their 2018 schedule against reigning Colonial Athletic Association Champion James Madison on Friday, Aug. 24 at the Dukes' home tournament in Harrisonburg, Va. Another NCAA postseason squad in up next as the Stags open a Saturday doubleheader against Missouri. The Tigers downed #19 Kansas and #16 Wichita State on the national stage last fall to reach the Regional Semifinal round of the NCAA Championship. Tournament action at JMU wraps up later on Saturday, Aug. 25 as the Stags challenge Delaware State.
 
The following week, Fairfield welcomes crosstown rival Sacred Heart for their first home match of the 2018 slate on Wed, Aug 31 to open the inaugural Connecticut Challenge. Staying in the Nutmeg State, Fairfield travels to Yale on Friday, Aug 31 against a Bulldogs team that went 16-8 last year and earned a share of their sixth Ivy League Championship in the last eight seasons. The Stags finish their early-season tour of their home state with a Saturday clash with Hartford in a match to be played on Quinnipiac's Burt Kahn Court in Hamden.
 
Starting on Friday, Sept. 7, Fairfield hosts the Fairfield Invitational as they welcome Michigan State, Harvard and Northeastern in for contests at Alumni Hall. On Friday night, the Stags play the Spartans in a rematch from the 2016 NCAA Championship First Round in East Lansing. Michigan State went 24-9 last season, wrapping up 2017 in the NCAA Championship Regional Finals – one win shy of the Final Four. The Spartans will be the first Big Ten team to visit Alumni Hall since Penn State made the trip east in 2002.
 
Saturday's action at the Fairfield Invitational will see the Stags challenge Harvard and Northeastern at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. respectively. Central Connecticut State rounds out the five-team field for the annual home tournament.
 
Conference play begins the following weekend as Fairfield travels to the Garden State to meet MAAC Volleyball's New Jersey contingent – Saint Peter's and Rider – on Sept. 15-16. The following weekend, MAAC play comes to Alumni Hall for the first time as Fairfield welcomes Manhattan on Saturday, Sept. 22 and hosts Iona on Sunday, Sept. 23 for a rematch of the 2017 MAAC Championship Match.
 
The Stags enter the 18-match conference slate riding a 51-game winning streak against MAAC opponents (including non-conference and postseason). That stretch is a conference record and marked the longest active streak in the nation at the close of the 2017 campaign.
 
For the first time since 2014, the MAAC Championship heads south to Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando on Nov. 15-18. All 10 MAAC teams will make the trip for the postseason. The Stags are 11-5 all-time in MAAC postseason matches in Orlando, including winning the 1998 MAAC Championship as a part of their historic 35-2 campaign.
                                                                    
The 2018 Stags return 10 student-athletes from last fall with seven newcomers set to enter the fold. Fairfield Volleyball is alongside Creighton (Big East), Cleveland State (Horizon) and American (Patriot) as the only four teams in the nation to have won their conference's outright regular season title and tournament title in each of the last three seasons.