LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Fairfield University Volleyball opened play at the MAAC Championship with a 3-1 win over eighth-seeded Niagara on Thursday at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. The top-seeded Stags were led by their All-MAAC First Team duo of KJ Johnson with 19 kills and Ella Gardiner with 15 kills and eight blocks.
 
"I thought we played very clean in the first set and then let our foot up off the gas, we've got a lot of things to talk about to get ready for whomever we play tomorrow," said Head Coach Todd Kress, who was recently named the MAAC Coach of the Year for the ninth time. "But what's good is that a lot of what we need to work on is controllable, so we'll regroup and get ready for another very good opponent at noon."
 
Fairfield improves to 24-6 and with its 11th consecutive win. Niagara ends its 2022 campaign at 10-20.
 
Johnson, who is also the MAAC Player of the Year for the second straight season, led all players with her 19 kills on .349 hitting from the outside. Gardiner swung at a .364 rate from the middle on her way to a new career-high 15 finishers. Sabria Cooper also reached double figures with 10 while hitting .444. As a unit, the Stags hit .256 for the match.
 
Rounding out the attack, Sara Daniels amassed nine kills, Allie Elliott had six, Mikayla Haut put down three and Maya Walker finished with two. Blakely Montgomery and Abby Jandro shared setting duties and posted 35 and 26 assists, respectively.
 
Defensively, the Stags were led by 13 blocks as they limited Niagara to a .142 hitting percentage. Gardiner and Daniels each had a hand in eight of those rejections with Walker getting a piece of three and Johnson playing a part in two send-backs.

The back row was headed by Kyla Berg with 28 digs donning the libero jersey. Montgomery posted 15 from the setter slot to complete a double-double, and Elliott notched 12. Morgan Doll checked in as a DS in three frames and contributed eight digs.
 
Niagara was led by 12 kills apiece from Lexi Bapst and Liana Tolliver. Kinga Wronska and Bella Peroni each contributed 16 digs for the Purple Eagles.
 
The Stags advance to Friday's first semifinal set for noon. Fairfield will challenge the winner of the match between fourth-seeded Canisius and fifth-seeded Siena, currently in progress.