BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Fairfield University volleyball team opened its Western New York road weekend with a sweep of Canisius College, winning the three sets by scores of 25-21, 25-19, 25-20.
KJ Johnson paced the Stags' attack with 16 kills while
Joelle Battles contributed 12 kills in the match. Fairfield improves to 8-6 overall and 3-0 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play while Canisius falls to 2-10 overall and 2-1 in MAAC action.
The visitors led for most of the first set, scoring the first point and pushing its advantage to four points at 9-5 with Battles accounting for four kills during that opening run. The Golden Griffs regrouped enough to make a strong run at the Stags, registering the next six points to take a two-point edge at 11-9. Fairfield rallied with seven of the next eight points to regain its four-point lead at 16-12 as a couple of service aces mixed in with a couple of kills from
KJ Johnson comprised most of the run. Canisius came with in one point later in the set at 21-20 before the Stags closed out the set.
The Golden Griffs took an early lead in the second set before Fairfield was able to find its way to its first lead of the set at 6-5 following Battles' kill. Canisius did not relent and built a lead as many as five points at 12-7, forcing a Fairfield timeout. After the break, the Stags outscored Canisius by an 8-3 margin to tie the score at 15-15, a stretch that featured a service ace and a kill by
Manuela Nicolini. The two teams were still tied at 17-17 but the deadlock was broken with back-to-back points that put Fairfield in the lead for good.
The final set was dominated by Fairfield as the team trailed only briefly before taking its first lead at 5-4. With the exception of ties at 6-6 and 15-15, the Stags led throughout the set which included a few four-point leads before settling on the five-point set victory at 25-20. Battles recorded two kills and assisted on a block with Emily Schlillinger to close out the final three points for Fairfield.
Battles finished the match with a team-best .409 attack percentage while Johnson ended up with a .344 attack percentage.
Luci Albertson also put forth a strong effort with nine kills, a service ace, a block solo, and two block assists.
Fairfield will complete its weekend with a match with Niagara University on Sunday afternoon. The Stags and the Purple Eagles will start play at noon. Fairfield will play its next home game on Saturday, October 2 when its hosts Quinnipiac University at 1 pm.
