HONOLULU – Texas A&M broke a 23-23 tie with two straight points to claim the opening set from Fairfield University Volleyball, then held off the tenacious Stags in the ensuing frames to wrap-up a 3-0 decision on Saturday in Honolulu. Fairfield was led by 10 kills and five blocks from KJ Johnson and a four-kill, three block day from Luci Albertson.
 
The Aggies won the match by set scores of 25-23, 25-18, and 25-16 to improve to 1-1. Fairfield, which opened its weekend with a straight-set loss to host Hawai'I on Friday, slips to 0-2.
 
Johnson paced the Fairfield attack for the second consecutive outing, adding 10 kills to her 13 on Friday. The junior newcomer added five blocks and three digs on the pins. On the right-side, Joelle Battles hit .400 en route to five kills on 10 swings, while Luci Albertson and Mikayla Haut each posted four finishers.
 
Avery Boyd added one kill with a hand in three blocks in her collegiate debut – getting the start in the middle – and Emily Schillinger rounded out the attack with one kill.
 
Blakely Montgomery made her first career start and dished out 18 assists to go along with two kills of her own, five digs and an ace. Manuela Nicolini took over at setter in the third and finished with four assists and four digs.
 
In the back row, Kyla Berg donned the libero jersey and notched a team-best 13 digs. She also contributed to the scoring with a service ace and three assists. Noelle Carey made her first appearance for the Stags and picked up eight digs.
 
Texas A&M was led by 14 kills from Lauren Davis and eight kills on .571 hitting by Mallory Talbert. Camille Conner handed out 27 assists for the Aggies, and Macy Carrabine led all players with 21 digs.
 
The Stags conclude action at the Hawaiian Airlines Rainbow Wahine Classic on Sunday at 2:45 PM (HST) / 8:45 PM (ET) against Marquette. The Golden Eagles edged the Aggies in five sets on Friday and swept the host Wahine on Saturday.
 
Including the Stags, all four teams at this weekend's tournament competed in the last "full field" edition of the NCAA Championship in 2019.