FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Playing their fourth match in just over 48 hours, Fairfield University Volleyball powered past visiting High Point on Sunday at the RecPlex by a score of 3-1. The Stags were led by a standout 24-kill performance from KJ Johnson, who also picked up 10 digs to record her second consecutive double-double.

With the win, the Stags improve to 2-5 on the season. High Point – which swept the trio of Sacred Heart, Columbia and Army earlier this weekend in West Point – falls to 5-2 and sees its five-match winning streak snapped at the hands of the Stags. The Panthers were 17-1 last season, going undefeated through the Big South and winning an NCAA Championship First Round match over UCF before falling to #7 Purdue to cap the 2021 spring campaign. Today's victory for Fairfield is the first over a team that won a match in the prior season's NCAA Tournament since the 1998 squad upended Notre Dame at Alumni Hall.
 
Johnson's 24 kills came at a sizzling .408 hitting percentage, as she committed only four errors in her match-high 49 swings. She also had a hand in a pair of Fairfield blocks to round out a 25-point showing. Johnson currently leads the MAAC with 4.36 kills and 4.90 points per set, and her .303 hitting percentage ranks fifth in the conference.
 
"That was an All-American performance from KJ today," said Head Coach Todd Kress. "She was hitting shots that haven't been hit in this program before. She has a very high volleyball IQ and a tremendous amount of talent. It's so much fun to watch her play."
 
After taking the first set by a 25-23 tally, Fairfield fell behind big in set two as High Point raced to a 13-5 advantage and maintained an 18-11 cushion. At that juncture, the Stags rattled off six straight points to cut the margin to 18-17 and eventually knotted the match at 22-22. However, the Panthers came back with three consecutive points to take the set, 25-22, and tie the match at 1-1.
 
"We knew High Point didn't play their best in the first set and that they were going to come out aggressively in the second," Kress said. "And we had a hard time pushing through the net when someone pushes back. So it was nice to gain a little bit of the momentum back going into set three."
 
That late surge did carry into the ensuing frame with the Stags jumping out to an 11-4 lead. High Point would momentarily climb to within three at 17-14, but Fairfield responded with the next three points and cruised the rest of the way to a 25-17 win in the set and a 2-1 advantage in the match.
 
Johnson scorched the Panthers with eight kills on 12 errorless swings in the set. In addition, Joelle Battles entered the rotation and went 4-for-5 in the stanza to spark the Fairfield attack. As a unit, the Stags hit .419 in the set.
 
"We wanted to get Emily Schillinger out on the right side blocking, and she did a good job blocking and containing their two dominant outsides," said Kress. "But putting Jo on the right and moving Emily to the left opened up more options for Manuela and gave us a boost offensively."

Schillinger and Battles both finished with six kills on the day, with Battles hitting .714 and Schillinger posting a .333 clip on her 18 errorless attempts.
 
Defensively, Luci Albertson had three of her match-high six blocks in the pivotal third set, including the solo stuff that accounted for the clinching point. Albertson also contributed 10 kills from the middle this afternoon and served up an ace. Kyla Berg and Manuela Nicolini also each landed an ace.
 
"High Point is a very good ball control team and I wasn't sure how often we would be able to get them out of system," noted Kress. "I give credit to our team, doing a nice job from the end line hitting their spots and serving them deep to their shoulders. That was a big part of the match today."
 
The high-octane Stags' attack rolled into the fourth set out to a 9-4 lead. The margin grew to 18-9 and High Point never drew closed than five the rest of the way as Fairfield completed the 25-15 win to seal a 3-1 victory. Fairfield hit .412 in the final set with Johnson accounting for 10 kills in the frame.
 
The attack was run through three-time MAAC Setter of the Year Manuela Nicolini to a .286 hitting percentage. Nicolini finished with 48 assists and 10 digs while also getting a piece of five blocks and dumping over two kills of her own.
 
High Point was limited to a .153 hitting percentage by a Fairfield defensive effort that included 13 team blocks. In addition to Albertson's six send-backs, Nicolini and Ella Gardiner had five apiece and Schillinger had a hand in three rejections. In the back row, libero Kyla Berg led all players with 16 digs, and Maddy Jerdonek had 14.
 
Today's victory capped a four-match weekend for the Stags, who challenged Seton Hall and Kent State on Friday and Hofstra on Saturday as a part of the Fairfield Invitational. The Stags defeated the Golden Flashes and came up short against the Pirates and the Pride.
 
"I don't look at the wins and losses; I look at where we're playing as a team. And yesterday (in a 3-2 loss to Hofstra) we had plenty of opportunities to win that match and it was all on us that we couldn't finish," said Kress. "But the most important thing is that we didn't come out today and make those same mistakes. That shows growth from a team that is spent physically and emotionally right now. I told them in the locker room that I'm very proud of the fact that we able to come out and push through being tired because this has been a week like we've never had before."
 
Another long weekend awaits the Stags on Sept. 10-11 across town at the Sacred Heart Invitational. Fairfield challenges UC Irvine (4-2) for the first time in program history on Friday before meeting Lafayette (1-2) and the host Pioneers (3-3) on Saturday.
 
Action returns to the RecPlex on Tuesday, Sept. 14 with the Stags' non-conference finale against Bryant. First serve is slated for 6 p.m. with all of the action broadcast live on the Stags Sports Network.