FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Volleyball will begin the official defense of last season's MAAC Championship this weekend as conference play begins in Western New York. The Stags will visit Canisius on Saturday at noon and then head 20 miles further north to Niagara for a 1 p.m. first serve on Sunday.
 
The Stags wrapped up the non-conference slate with a record of 6-5. Fairfield's out-of-league schedule included three wins at the Villanova Classic – including the host Wildcats – and wins over St. John's, Fairleigh Dickinson and Eastern Michigan. The setbacks came at the hands of Louisiana, Michigan State, Washington State, High Point and Howard.
 
The offense has been led by KJ Johnson on the outside, where the reigning MAAC Player of the Year is racking up 3.28 kills per set on .235 hitting. 2021 MAAC Rookie of the Year Mikayla Haut (2.08 kills/set) and rookie Allie Elliott (1.50 kills/set) are the other hitters in the rotation on the left side.
 
The right side of the attack has featured senior Joelle Battles (1.54 kills/set) and VCU transfer Sabria Cooper (1.29 kills/set). In the middle, Ella Gardiner has posted 2.08 kills per set on .248 hitting with Sara Daniels – a graduate transfer from Saint Louis – is putting down 1.46 kills per frame on a team-best .340 hitting.
 
A pair of setters have helped run the attack to a MAAC-best .204 hitting percentage. Blakely Montgomery has played in all 40 sets en route to 7.38 assists per stanza. Abby Jandro has also joined the mix as a part of a 6-2 offense, doling 3.76 assists per frame while sharing setting duties in 17 sets.
 
Defensively, Daniels and Gardiner are the top two blockers in the MAAC with 1.23 and 0.97 rejections per set, respectively. Johnson slots sixth in the conference with 0.83 blocks per set, helping Fairfield to a league-leading 2.08 blocks per stanza.
 
In the back row, Morgan Doll leads the effort with 2.81 digs per set, followed by Kyla Berg's 2.63 digs per frame and 2.03 per set from Johnson. All told, the Fairfield defense is limiting opponents to a .207 hitting percentage.
 
Canisius enters the league slate with a record of 2-7. The Griffs picked up consecutive wins over IPFW and Western Illinois during opening weekend but have since dropped six straight contests. Canisius is in its first season led by MAAC veteran Tom Hanna – formerly the head coach at Marist from 2006-14 – coming off of an 11-18 campaign that ended at the hands of the Stags in the MAAC Championship Semifinals.
 
Niagara, which hosts Quinnipiac on Saturday before welcoming the Stags, also starts the MAAC schedule with a 2-7 mark. The Purple Eagles own wins over Bryant and Penn prior to their current five-match losing streak. That skid includes a 3-0 loss to FDU, a team that the Stags swept at the RecPlex on Sept. 9. First-year head coach Ren Cefra takes the helm of a Niagara squad that went 13-15 last season and earned the fifth-seed in the MAAC Championship, falling to crosstown rival Canisius in the First Round.
 
Fairfield won its conference-record 12th MAAC Championship and 20th regular season title in 2021, finishing at 24-9 overall and 16-2 in the league. Head Coach Todd Kress has been at the helm for seven of those conference titles en route to eight MAAC Coach of the Year awards.
 
This weekend begins a stretch in which the Stags will play their first four MAAC outings on the road. The ledger brings Fairfield to Marist and Siena next weekend before action returns to the RecPlex for a 1 p.m. visit from in-state MAAC foe Quinnipiac on Oct. 1.