FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The two Connecticut members of the MAAC convened at Leo D. Mahoney Arena for the first time on Friday as Fairfield University Volleyball hosted Quinnipiac in a rematch of the 2022 MAAC Championship. In this evening's encounter, the Stags got the better of the reigning champions with a 3-1 victory by set scores of 25-22, 26-24, 21-25 and 25-18.
The win creates a three-way atop the MAAC standings with Fairfield, Quinnipiac and Marist all knotted at 6-1. The teams are all 1-1 against each other, but will meet once more during the second leg of the "double round robin" 18-match MAAC schedule. Fairfield improved to 10-5 overall with tonight's win, while Quinnipiac fell to 10-6.
Mikayla Haut paced the Fairfield attack, putting down 19 kills on .421 hitting from the pins. Haut was just shy of a double-double with nine digs and also had a hand in five of the Stags' 12 blocks. Allie Elliott also reached double-digit kills on outside with 10, and Mamie Krubally put down nine.
Blakely Montgomery managed the Stags from the setter spot and finished with 38 assists as well as six digs and three kills of her own. The Stags swung at a .237 clip for the match.
Defensively, reigning MAAC Libero of the Week Kyla Berg led the way from the libero spot with a match-high 25 digs. Noelle Carey posted 14 from the back row and Abby Jandro had eight to go along with eight assists. At the net, Maya Walker had six blocks in her return to action after missing the last two matches with a minor injury. Krubally and Janna Schlageter each got a piece of three, as the Stags limited Quinnipiac to a .145 hitting percentage.
"The bottom line is that we did what we needed to do to win tonight," said Head Coach Nancy Somera. "We were tough when we needed it, we were scrappy when we needed it. Quinnipiac is the best defensive team in the conference, but we out-dug and out-blocked them. Kyla was outstanding leading the back row, and once we started to get accustomed to their hitters' timing and rhythm, our blocking came together as well."
How It Happened
SET 1 | After six ties in a back-and-forth beginning to the contest, the Stags went on a 7-2 run to take a 15-10 lead. The margin grew to 20-13, but Quinnipiac rattled off the next five to close the gap to 20-18. The Bobcats climbed back to within a single point at 23-22, but a QU error and an Elliott closed out the frame with the Stags claiming the early advantage, 25-22.
SET 2 | The second set was an offensive spectacle, with QU getting seven kills on .500 hitting from Aryanah Diaz and the Stags riding five kills at a .625 clip from Mamie Krubally. The frame was deadlocked for the ninth time when Ginevra Giovagnoni served up back-to-back aces to bring the score to 24-22 and pull the Bobcats within a point of tying the match. But QU would not score again as a Krubally kill and an attack error knotted the set for the 10th time at 24-24. Elliott followed with a kill to swing set point to Fairfield, and the Stags capitalized as Elliott and Schlageter teamed up for a block to win the frame, 26-24.
SET 3 | The Bobcats led wire-to-wire in set three to keep the match alive. QU rattled off the first four points of the frame and led by as many as seven at 22-15 The Stags never faded away, drawing as close as 23-21, but the Bobcats closed out the set at 25-21 to push the match to a fourth stanza.
SET 4 | Fairfield responded in kind with a wire-to-wire win to ice the match, taking a 4-0 lead that grew to 7-1. The Bobcats were never closer than within four points for the rest of the set as the Stags salted away the 25-18 decision to take the 3-1 win.
Up Next
After playing just one match this week, the Stags will host three MAAC foes next week, beginning with Iona on Wednesday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. The Gaels are 7-11 overall and 3-4 in the MAAC following a loss at Marist this evening.
Fairfield then concludes its four-match homestand over the weekend, completing the first leg of the MAAC schedule with visits from Rider and Saint Peter's on Oct. 14-15.
Admission is free for all fans to all Fairfield Volleyball regular season home matches this season.
This article created using technology provided by Data Skrive.
