NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – For the 21st time in the last 27 seasons, Fairfield University Volleyball has won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Regular Season Championship. The Stags locked up at least a share of the title on Saturday afternoon in New Rochelle, N.Y. with a 3-0 sweep of host Iona.
Fairfield currently holds a share of the regular season title and will need one win or one Marist loss to win the crown outright. The Stags have already secured the top seed in the upcoming MAAC Championship by virtue of their sweep of Marist on Sept. 25 against the Red Foxes five-set win on Oct. 12 to split the series.
With today's victory, the Stags improve to 20-6 overall and 14-1 in the MAAC. The triumph marks Fairfield's sixth 20-win season in the last seven campaigns in which 20 or more matches were played (the Stags went 9-1 in a truncated Spring 2021 season). It is also the ninth 20-win season for Head Coach Todd Kress in 13 years at the helm.
Iona falls to 16-10 overall and 11-5 in the MAAC after just their second home defeat of the season.
The Stags were led by a returning KJ Johnson, who hammered 14 kills on .333 hitting at the pins. On the right side, Sabria Cooper put down eight kills and Sara Daniels registered five. Allie Elliott added five kills from the outside, and middles Ella Gardiner and Maya Walker finished with four and three kills, respectively.
Running the attack to a .210 clip was the duo of Blakely Montgomery with 21 assists and Abby Jandro with 13. Jandro also went over on two for a kill and completed a double-double with 11 digs.
Montgomery also served up a pair of aces while Elliott landed one from behind the line.
The defensive story was at the net, where the Stags racked up 12 team blocks. Walker had a hand in a career-best nine of those rejections with Cooper getting a piece of four. Johnson, Daniels and Gardiner all played a role in three of the Stags' dozen stuffs.
In the back row, libero Kyla Berg racked up 18 digs with Jandro and Morgan Doll each posting 11. Fairfield's defensive effort limited Iona to a .119 hitting percentage.
The Gaels were led by 12 kills from Fleur Wiersma and eight by Jen Soto. Hope Matschner improved the best dig total and average in the nation with 24 ups in the three-set match.
"This was a solid team performance today," said Kress. "We got pushed by a very good team and responded with big plays at critical times. Iona plays great team defense led by Matschner at libero, and I thought we went toe-to-toe with them defensively, which is a good step forward for us. It was also great to see KJ back on the court and into her offensive rhythm after two weeks off."
The Stags first shot at locking up the outright MAAC Regular Season Championship is tomorrow – Sunday, Nov. 6 – at Manhattan at 1 p.m.
Next weekend, the Stags return home to close out the regular season with the final matches scheduled for the RecPlex. Fairfield hosts Rider on Saturday, Nov. 12 and Saint Peter's for Senior Day on Sunday, Nov. 13 with both contests slated for 1 p.m.
The 2022 MAAC Championship will be held on Nov. 16-19 with all 10 MAAC Volleyball teams trekking down to the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando.
