FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Volleyball rolled past visiting Siena in straight sets on Saturday afternoon at the RecPlex. The 3-0 victory secured a share of the 20th MAAC Regular Season Championship in program history since 1996.
 
After the win, which came by set scores of 25-17, 25-14 and 25-20, Fairfield improves to 19-7 overall and 14-1 in the MAAC. The Stags can secure sole possession of the MAAC regular season crown with one more win in their final three matches, or one loss apiece for Marist and Rider.
 
In addition to 20 MAAC Regular Season Championships in the past 26 campaigns, the Stags have gone on to win 11 MAAC Tournament Titles in that span to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA postseason.
 
"There has been a never-ending and collective pursuit of excellence in this program for more than 25 years," said Head Coach Todd Kress. "They say it's harder to stay on top, and we know that we can never let our foot off the gas pedal. I couldn't be prouder of the things that have happened in this program, whether I was here or not, to maintain that level of excellence and keep things moving forward."
 
Kress has been at the helm of nine of those regular season championship teams between his two stints at Fairfield, earning three straight from 1996-98 and then picking up six in the last seven campaigns (2015-17, 2019-21).
 
In today's outing, the Stags hit a scorching .360, led from the pins by KJ Johnson and Mikayla Haut. Johnson added to her MAAC-leading total with 16 kills on .424 hitting and also registered a team-high 14 digs to round out a double-double. Haut put down 11 kills at a .450 clip and had a hand in three of the Stags' nine blocks.
 
"Mikayla played with a confidence today that I've not seen out of her for the entire season," Kress noted. "With her starting to hit her stride, that makes us even better."
 
Rounding out the attack from the middle and right side, Luci Albertson sent home six kills on .313 hitting, Ella Gardiner had five kills on 10 errorless swings, and Emily Schillinger posted two kills to go along with her match-best six blocks.
 
The offense was managed for the second straight match by Blakely Montgomery, who dished out 32 assists. Montgomery also dumped over two kills of her own.
 
"Blakely was great today. She had a couple of sets to KJ where she pushed a good 30-35 feet and hit her on a dime," said Kress of his rookie setter. "There's probably a couple decisions that she'd like to have back, but I thought she did a great job running the offense."
 
The Stags added eight points from the end line to their potent attack, led by two aces apiece for Johnson and Georgia Via. Schillinger, Montgomery, Morgan Doll and Kyla Berg each landed one winner for the Stags.
 
Defensively, Via joined Johnson in double figures with 10 digs. The Stags' nine team blocks improved their MAAC-best average to 2.60 rejections per set overall and 3.18 stuffs per set in conference play.
 
In total, Fairfield limited the Siena attack to a .150 hitting percentage. The Saints, who fell to 6-21 overall and 6-10 in the MAAC, were led by 10 kills from Emily Wunder and seven kills on .500 hitting by Abby Huffman.
 
"We're always just focusing on getting better, and I thought some things we did in practice this week translated over to today, though some things we did in practice didn't necessarily translate over," Kress said. "We're not a finished product, but today was a step forward from where we were last Saturday and where we were in practice this week, and right now that's all that matters."
 
Tomorrow, the Stags will celebrate Senior Day prior to a 1 p.m. visit from Marist. Fairfield will recognize the quartet of Schillinger, Julia Kallen, Alexis Rich and Laura Seeger for their four years of commitment to the program.
 
Marist is 17-10 overall and 12-4 in the MAAC following a five-set win at Quinnipiac this afternoon.