FAIRFIELD, Conn. – In an early meeting of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference unbeatens, Fairfield University Volleyball swept crosstown foe Sacred Heart, 3-0, at Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Wednesday. The Stags hit .318 on the evening to put away the Pioneers by set scores of 26-24, 26-24 and 25-11.
With the win, Fairfield improved to 5-9 on the season and 3-0 in the MAAC. The Pioneers absorbed their first conference loss, dropping to 6-9 on the campaign with a 2-1 league mark. After Niagara's win over Canisius tonight in another clash of geographic MAAC rivals, the Stags and Purple Eagles are the conference's two remaining unbeaten clubs.
While the victory came in straight sets, the MAAC was tightly contested throughout. The first frame featured 10 ties and five lead changes before the Stags closed it out, 26-24. In the second stanza, Fairfield faced late deficits of 18-12 and 21-17 before rattling off a 7-1 run en route to another 26-24 triumph. That momentum rolled into the third set, where the Stags raced to an 8-1 advantage and never allowed the Pioneers closed that five points the rest of the way, eventually pulling away for a 25-11 win to close out the sweep.
"The first word that comes to mind is patience," said Head Coach
Nancy Somera. "We didn't abandon our gameplan, and we didn't allow ourselves to go on a rollercoaster ride based on the score. Everybody stayed focused and did what they needed to do to finish off some close sets, including a nice comeback in the second."
Mamie Krubally led all players with 14 kills on .500 hitting, powering the Stags to a .318 hitting percentage.
Allie Elliott posted 10 kills on 21 swings with just one error, while
Janna Schlageter pitched in on the right side with eight kills on 17 errorless attempts.
Svenja Rodenbüsch got the call in relief on the outside and racked up four kills on .444 hitting in two sets of action. She also contributed six digs and a service ace.
Maya Walker added five kills,
Mikayla Haut had four and
Emma Beretich put down one.
The MAAC's top hitting attack was managed by
Blakely Montgomery and
Abby Jandro with 21 and 19 assists, respectively. After tonight's showing, Fairfield is hitting a league-best .213 while swinging at a .297 clip in three conference contests to date.
Kyla Berg led a balanced effort in the back row with nine digs, followed by Jandro's eight and seven from Elliott. At the net, Beretich had a hand in five of the Stags' six team blocks. Krubally got a piece of three rejections and Schlageter played a role in two. The Stags limited Sacred Heart to a .140 team hitting percentage.
The Pioneers were led by 12 kills by Camryn Luginbuhl and 11 for Allison Murray. Miliani Villarreal led all players with 13 digs.
The 19th meeting in the all-time series was the first between Fairfield and Sacred Heart as conference opponents. The Stags hold a 14-5 advantage on the overall ledger, but Sacred Heart had won four of the last six meetings entering tonight.
"You don't prepare differently or approach a match differently because you're playing a rival, but at the same time, it's the easiest pregame speech in the world," said Somera. "They're a rival coming into our house and they're also a very good team in our conference. We were up for it tonight and we'll need to be up for it again in four weeks when we travel over to their gym."
Another Nutmeg State rival is on deck for the Stags when Quinnipiac comes to Mahoney Arena on Saturday, Oct. 5 for a 1 p.m. rematch of the last two MAAC Championship Finals. The Bobcats are 5-10 overall and 2-1 in the league after a decisive sweep of Merrimack tonight in Hamden.
