EDISON, N.J. – Fairfield University Volleyball – the defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Champion – has been selected for the top spot in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, which was announced on Wednesday by the league office. Individually, Manuela Nicolini was named the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year to highlight three Stags on the Preseason All-MAAC Team.
 
Fairfield was the near-unanimous favorite in the poll, earning nine of the 10 first-place votes cast by the conference's head coaches. The Stags won the MAAC Championship with a 17-1 league mark in the fall of 2019 – their fourth championship in the past five seasons led by Head Coach Todd Kress and the conference-best 11th in program history (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019).
 
The remaining first-place vote went to Quinnipiac, who earned second place on the ledger after reaching the MAAC Championship Match in 2019. The top-half of the poll was filled out by perennial conference contenders Rider, Marist and Canisius. The quintet of Niagara, Siena, Iona, Manhattan and Saint Peter's round out the 10-team slate.
 
Nicolini earns Preseason Player of the Year and Preseason All-MAAC laurels after a standout 2019 campaign. Nicolini was named the MAAC Player and Setter of the Year to become the first student-athlete in conference history to garner two major awards in the same season. The two-time Setter of the Year and two-time All-MAAC First Team performer added MAAC Championship MVP to her résumé after posting a triple-double (39 assists, 14 digs, 10 blocks) in the MAAC Championship Match.
 
Also the Preseason co-Player of the Year prior to the 2018 season, Nicolini missed that campaign due to injury. In her three active seasons, all of which ended with a MAAC Championship victory, she has risen to fourth place on the Stags' career charts with 3,052 assists to date.
 
Joining Nicolini on the Preseason All-MAAC Team are Joelle Battles and Kaylie Butts. Battles was an All-MAAC First Team honoree as a freshman in 2019, averaging 2.93 kills per set (fifth in the MAAC) while hitting at a .250 clip from the right side. She was only the second Stag in 10 seasons to hit at least .250 with more than 300 total kills.
 
An All-MAAC Second Team selection in 2019, Butts was a standout on the right side and in the middle last season. She hit .310 en route to 2.32 kills per frame and ranked second in the MAAC with 1.04 blocks per set – a total of 110 rejections.
 
Battles, Butts and Nicolini are three of the 12 Stags returner to the roster for the spring season, joined by newcomers Kyla Berg, Ella Gardiner, Simone Tyson and Georgia Via.
 
Fairfield opens the campaign on George Bisacca Court at Alumni Hall on March 7 with a doubleheader against Rider for the final matches to be played at the venue. The spring 2021 season will consist of five same-day MAAC doubleheaders, with the top eight teams in the standings qualifying for the MAAC Championship, held from April 1-3 at the Albany Capital Center in Albany, N.Y.