LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Fairfield University Volleyball will play for its 13th MAAC Championship, advancing to the tournament final with a 3-1 win over Siena on Friday afternoon at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. KJ Johnson put down 20 kills for the Stags with Sabria Cooper added 10 on the right side swinging at a scorching .500 clip.
 
With the win, Fairfield improves to 25-6 and extends its winning streak to 12 consecutive matches. Siena sees its 2022 campaign come to a close with a record of 13-17. The Stags closed out the semifinal matchup by set scores of 25-21, 18-25, 25-18 and 25-22.
 
"I give a lot of credit to Siena, I thought they played great," said Head Coach Todd Kress. "We started to limit our errors in sets 3 and 4, started to pick up some defensive intensity, [KJ Johnson] started to own it on the offensive side and [Sabria Cooper] did a nice job on the right side as well."
 
Johnson's 20 kills are the most in a tournament match thus far, eclipsing her own mark of 19 in yesterday's 3-1 win over Niagara. She also recorded 12 digs to complete a double-double and had a hand in three blocks.
 
Cooper needed only 18 swings and committed just one error on her way to 10 kills on .500 hitting. Ella Gardiner added eight kills, Sara Daniels had five, Allie Elliott put down four and Mikayla Haut rounded out the attack with three.
 
Blakely Montgomery engineered the offense from the setter spot, dishing out 45 assists and dumping over two kills of her own. The Stags hit .225 for the match.
 
Defensively, Kyla Berg donned the libero jersey and led all players with 18 digs. Elliott picked up 16 from the back row, Johnson had 12 and Morgan Doll recorded 11. Doll also accounted for three of the Stags' nine service aces.
 
Fairfield compiled nine team blocks on the day, fueled by five from Gardiner. Johnson and Daniels each got a piece of three rejections with Montgomery having a hand in two stuffs. The Stags' defense limited Siena to a .170 hitting percentage.

The Saints had four players post double-digit kills, led by the All-MAAC Second Team tandem of Emily Wunder and Sara Wagner with 15 and 12 finishers, respectively. Hailey Hinkel added a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs.
 
The top-seeded Stags will challenge the winner of the semifinal featuring Rider and Quinnipiac, currently in progress. Fairfield swept the home-and-home series from both of its possible championship opponents as a part of its 17-1 run to the MAAC Regular Season Championship.
 
"I don't think at this point we look at the matches from the regular season," noted Kress. "Whoever gets to the championship tomorrow is at 2-0 in this tournament, and that's where we're at, so we're on equal footing and we've got to be better than they are tomorrow."
 
First serve in the 2022 MAAC Championship Match is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m. Fairfield is vying for its second straight MAAC title and the 13th in program history.