LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – Fairfield University Volleyball rang in the second half of the MAAC schedule on Sunday with a 3-0 victory at Rider in a rematch of last season's conference championship final. The Stags were led by 16 kills on .314 hitting by Mikayla Haut and a near double-double with 10 kills and nine digs by KJ Johnson.
 
With the win, the Stags improve to 15-6 overall and 9-1 in the MAAC. Rider drops to 5-15 overall and 3-7 in conference play. Fairfield has now gone head-to-head with every MAAC team this season, splitting the season series with Marist and posting a 3-0 victory over each of the other eight league foes.
 
Despite the 3-0 final, the Stags needed a sustained rally to emerge victorious in each of today's three sets. In Set 1, Fairfield trailed 13-7 but went on to outscore the Broncs by an 18-7 count the rest of the way to take a 25-20 win.  A comeback was needed even earlier in the second frame, with Rider jumping out to a 4-0 edge. The Stags fired back with six of the next seven points and then took the back-and-forth stanza, 25-21. Set 3 saw Fairfield take the early advantage and Rider engineer the comeback as the Broncs turned a 13-8 deficit into an 18-16 lead. But the Stags once again had an answer, closing the set on a 9-2 run to lock up the 25-20 win and the 3-0 triumph in the match.
 
"It's good to be heading back to Fairfield with two more conference wins, but as a team, we need to raise the standard on our side of the net," said Head Coach Todd Kress. "We need to cut down on the errors that are created by our lack of execution and not our opponent making plays. We've seen how successful we can be when we focus and execute, and we need to get back to playing that brand of volleyball if we want to be in a good position heading down the stretch and into November. We have four weeks left in the regular season, and making improvements and being dialed in has to start with our next practice on Tuesday."
 
Half of Haut's 16 kills came in Set 2 as she helped drive that comeback. The output marked a season high for last fall's MAAC Rookie of the Year. Johnson added 10 kills from the outside, with Ella Gardiner and Maya Walker each putting down four from the middle. Sara Daniels rounded out the attack with a pair of finishers.
 
Blakely Montgomery ran the offense with 27 assists and also dumped over four kills of her own. The Stags hit .186 for the match, bolstered by a .229 clip in the third set.
 
Kyla Berg served up back-to-back aces to end the match, and Maddy Jerdonek also landed a winner to contribute to the scoring from the end line.
 
The Fairfield defense facilitated the trio of comebacks by holding the Broncs to a .072 hitting percentage. In the back row, Johnson paced the team with nine digs while Berg, Montgomery and Noelle Carey each had eight. The effort at the net was guided by six blocks from Walker and three for Daniels as Fairfield aggregated eight stuffs as a team.
 
Rider was led by Kianny Santiago with seven kills. The setting duo of Sydney Bond and Julia Slivka each handed out 10 assists, and Pamela Loh led all players with 11 digs.
 
Up next, action returns to the RecPlex for a three-match stretch featuring Niagara and Canisius on Oct. 22-23 and a midweek tilt with Siena on Oct. 26.