FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- Fueled by 10 blocks to limit the hosts to a .033 hitting percentage, Fairfield University Volleyball swept Sacred Heart on Thursday at the Pitt Center. The Stags completed their first sweep of the Pioneers since 2013 by scores of 25-13, 27-25 and 25-15.
With the win, the Stags improve to 3-1 on the season. Preseason NEC favorite Sacred Heart falls to 0-3 with the loss in its home opener.
"Blocking and shot selection were two of our focuses in the practice gym this week, and it was good to see improvement in both of those areas on the court tonight," said Head Coach Nancy Somera. "It's very early in the season, and we are more focused on cleaning things up on our side of the net than on our opponent, but of course it's a positive step to play well against a good team that was picked to win their conference. I'm proud of our overall effort and by how many different players contributed to tonight's win."
Highlighting Fairfield's 10 blocks, which marked a season high for any MAAC team thus far in 2023, were Maya Walker with a hand in six sendbacks and Mamie Krubally getting a piece of five. Allie Elliott and Elle Shult each played a part in four rejections and Janna Schlageter rounded out the block party with one.
Also on the defensive side of the net, Kyla Berg picked up a team-best 13 digs with the duo of Mikayla Haut and Abby Jandro each collecting eight. To cap the effort in the back row, the Stags allowed just one SHU ace to hit the floor, while serving up five winners of their own. All told, Sacred Heart managed 33 kills with 29 errors for a .033 hitting percentage. The Pioneers only hit above .000 in one set, scraping out a .196 mark in the second frame.
Offensively, Haut had seven kills to lead a corps of seven Stags with at least two finishers. Elliott and Schlageter each chipped in six from the pins while Walker put down four from the middle. The attack was managed by the duo of Blakely Montgomery and Abby Jandro with 13 and 12 assists, respectively.
How It Happened
SET 1 | The Stags led wire-to-wire, getting out to a 7-1 start and never looking back. Elliott had two kills in the opening run, with Krubally getting hands on Fairfield's first two blocks of the contest. Another 6-0 stretch later in the frame extended the margin to double digits as the Stags took an early lead with a 25-13 win.
SET 2 | Sacred Heart led by as many as three in the second frame, creeping out to a 13-10 advantage at the midway point. The Stags responded with a 5-0 spurt to regain an edge, and the score would flip three more times as the Pioneers found themselves with the first set-point chance of the stanza at 24-22. However, a service error and an attack error leveled the tally once again at 24-24. After a Haut service ace, SHU fought off one set point from the Stags before Fairfield ran off two in a row to claim a 27-25 win.
SET 3 | The tenacious defensive effort carried into the third set. The Stags would not allow the Pioneers to score back-to-back points for the majority of the set as they steadily constructed a 14-7 advantage. A late 5-1 run added the exclamation point with Fairfield salting away the 25-15 win and the 3-0 sweep.
Up next, Fairfield Volleyball takes the court at Leo D. Mahoney Arena for the first time to host UMBC on Saturday, Sept. 2 at 2:30 p.m. Admission is free for all fans to all regular season home volleyball matches this season.
On Saturday, Fairfield Athletics is partnering with FUSA for a raffle exclusively for the incoming Class of 2027. Students must check in to the game with the Super Stags app to be eligible to win. Search "Super Stags" in your device's app store to download!
This article created using technology provided by Data Skrive.
