NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – Host Iona broke an 11-11 tie in the fifth set with four straight points to take a 3-2 decision from Fairfield University Volleyball on Friday night in New Rochelle.
Manuela Nicolini had 57 assists and 16 digs in the match, becoming the 17th Stag in program history to join the 1,000 Digs Club.
Nicolini currently stands at 1,008 career digs and ranks third all-time at Fairfield with 4,240 career assists. She also notched a pair of blocks this evening to reach an even 300 in her career. Nicolini joins Hall of Famer Corrine Carlson has the only players in Fairfield history with 1,000 digs and 300 blocks.
After tonight's loss, the Stags move to 20-8 overall and 15-2 in the MAAC. Fairfield previously clinched the MAAC Regular Season Championship and top seed in next weekend's conference tournament. Iona improves to 9-17 on the season and 7-10 in the MAAC. The Gaels and Siena are Fairfield's two potential opponents in the quarterfinal round of the eight-team championship.
"When you commit 63 errors, you're going to put yourself in an adverse situation," said Head Coach
Todd Kress. "We put ourselves in that situation tonight and were unable to get out from under it."
The Stags registered 79 points to Iona's 73 in the five-set match, but committed 40 attack errors – including 17 Iona blocks – as well 10 service errors, nine reception errors and four block errors.
Fairfield's attack as led by
Mikayla Haut, who moved over to the L1 spot in the rotation and put down a career-high 22 kills. Haut, who hit .226 for the contest, also recorded 10 digs to complete a double-double.
Joining Haut in double-digit kills were
Ella Gardiner and
Joelle Battles with 11 finishers apiece.
Luci Albertson added eight kills to go along with five blocks,
Laura Seeger posted seven kills and
Julia Kallen had four. Nicolini ran the attack to a .130 clip with her 57 assists and also dumped over one kill of her own.
Defensively,
Georgia Via recorded 19 digs in three sets from the libero spot to lead six Stags with double-digit digs. Nicolini posted 16,
Kyla Berg had 15, Kallen notched 13, and the duo of Haut and
Morgan Doll each delivered 10.
At the net, the Stags recorded nine blocks with Albertson getting a hand on a team-high five. Gardiner was a part of four rejections and Battles played a role in three.
Iona hit .152 for the match, led by 10 kills apiece for Cassandra Patsos on the outside and Jen Soto in the middle. The setting duo of Tamara Pichardo and Samantha Juran managed the offense and had 26 and 15 assists, respectively.
Two stellar performances fueled the Gaels' defense as libero Hope Matschner had 34 digs in the back row and Fleur Wiersma had eight blocks up front.
Fairfield Volleyball closes out the regular season on Sunday with a 1 p.m. match at Manhattan. The Stags then trek to the UHY Center at Siena for the MAAC Championship from Nov. 19-21. Top-seeded Fairfield's quarterfinal match is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 19 at 11 a.m.
