LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – Four Stags put down double-digit kills as Fairfield University Volleyball opened MAAC Championship action with a 3-1 win over host Siena in Friday's quarterfinal round in Loudonville, N.Y. The top-seeded Stags took the contest from the eighth-seeded Saints by set scores of 25-23, 21-25, 27-25 and 25-19.
The Stags, who swept Siena twice during the regular season, improve to 22-8 overall and move on to Friday's semifinal round. Fairfield will challenge the winner of the match between fourth-seeded Canisius and fifth-seeded Niagara, currently in progress.
Siena concludes its season with a record of 7-23.
"It's never easy in the postseason to play on your opponent's home court. That being said, Siena played well and capitalized on some of our weaknesses," said Head Coach
Todd Kress, who was tabbed on Thursday as the MAAC Coach of the Year for a conference-record eighth time in his career. "But I'm also proud of how we responded in Sets 3 and 4 when it got tight. Luci [Albertson] had a couple of incredible swings when we were facing set point, and that was difference in the third set."
MAAC Player of the Year
KJ Johnson led players with 19 kills. Also on the pins,
Laura Seeger put down 13 kills and MAAC Rookie of the Year
Mikayla Haut added 10.
Ella Gardiner fueled the attack in the middle with 12 kills on .476 hitting, and
Luci Albertson swung at a .313 clip en route to her seven kills.
The attack was engineered by
Manuela Nicolini, who doled out 51 assists in four sets while running the offense to a .275 hitting percentage. Nicolini – the four-time MAAC Setter of the Year – also went over on two for a pair of kills from the setter spot.
Nicolini also notched 13 digs to round out a double-double. She was one of four Stags with double figures in the back row, paced by 18 digs from
Morgan Doll. Johnson had 11 digs to polish off a double-double of her own, and
Kyla Berg also registered 11.
Julia Kallen also pitched in with eight digs and
Noelle Carey had five to help keep the Siena hitters at bay. At the net, Gardiner was a factor in six of the Stags' seven team blocks, including two solo stuffs.
Fairfield rounded out the scoring with five points from the end line. Berg served up a pair of aces with Albertson, Carey and Doll each landing one winner.
"As we talked about in the locker room, this weekend is a marathon, not a sprint," said Kress. "The team that is able to combine their talents with an unwavering grit will find their way to the finish line on Sunday. Hopefully our group understands that and is ready to combine those two facts both individually and collectively starting tomorrow."
Saturday's first semifinal is slated for 4 p.m. The winner will advance to the MAAC Championship Match on Sunday at 4 p.m. with the conference's automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Championship at stake.
The entirety of the 2021 MAAC Championship will be held at Siena's UHY Center on-campus in Loudonville with every match broadcast live on ESPN+.
