FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Volleyball made short work of UC Irvine on Friday afternoon to open action at the Sacred Heart Invitational. The Stags took the first-ever meeting with the Anteaters by set scores of 25-15, 25-14 and 25-21. Fairfield hit a season-best .342 in the straight-set win, led by six kills on nine errorless swings from Luci Albertson.
 
Including today's victory, Fairfield has won three of its last four matches to improve to 3-5 on the season. UC Irvine, which was coming off of a two-win weekend at their home tournament, fell to 4-3.
 
"Today was a steady performance overall; I was pleased with our improvement from the past week of practice and that our offensive numbers were much more balanced than they have been," said Head Coach Todd Kress. "We all agreed in the locker room that our contacts still need to be more purposeful to maximize our transition offense and side-out percentages."
 
Albertson's six kills came on .667 hitting, and the graduate student had a hand in four blocks to round out her team-leading 10.5 points. On the outside, reigning MAAC Player of the Week KJ Johnson led all players with eight kills, and Joelle Battles added seven kills at a .353 rate from the right side. Also swinging from the left side, Emily Schillinger racked up five kills on .364 hitting.
 
Manuela Nicolini ran the high-powered attack to the tune of 21 assists and dumped over five kills of her own.

Albertson's four blocks paced Fairfield at the net, as the Stags tallied eight team send-backs. Battles played a part in two rejections with Nicolini, Schillinger and Ella Gardiner each recording a solo stuff.
 
In the back row, Nicolini led the defense with nine digs. Kyla Berg had eight from the libero slot, Johnson posted seven, and the duo of Georgia Via and Julia Kallen registered six digs apiece. In total, the Fairfield defensive effort limited UCI to a .011 hitting percentage with 23 kills and 22 errors.
 
Rounding out the scoring, Via served up two of the Stags' five aces. Nicolini, Johnson, and Albertson each landed one winner from the end line.
 
The Stags will play two matches at the Pitt Center on Saturday to finish off the weekend invite. Fairfield tangles with Lafayette at 10:30 a.m. and meets the host Pioneers in the tournament finale at 7 p.m.