LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – Faced with a 5-1 deficit in the fifth set of Saturday's match at Rider, Fairfield University Volleyball ended the contest on a 14-4 run to complete the comeback in a 3-2 victory. The Stags took the match by set scores of 17-25, 25-21, 17-25, 25-15 and 15-9 to clinch the outright MAAC Regular Season Championship and top seed in next weekend's MAAC Championship tournament.
With the win, Fairfield moved to 18-11 overall and 16-1 in the MAAC. Rider fell to 14-16 on the year and 13-4 in the conference; the Broncs are locked into the third seed in the MAAC Championship following today's results around the league.
"Our serve and our defense really stepped up in the fourth and fifth sets, and then our attack found its stride to put the match away," said Head Coach
Nancy Somera. "It was far from perfect, but today was another 'grind it out' match where we found a way to win against a very tough MAAC opponent."
The Stags were powered by 19 kills on .400 hitting from
Mikayla Haut on the outside. Haut completed a double-double with 12 digs and also dished out three assists. Also on the pins,
Mamie Krubally put down 15 kills and
Allie Elliott had 14. Elliott also had 12 digs to round out a double-double.
In the middle,
Maya Walker had eight kills and
Emma Beretich recorded four. Svenja Rodenbüsch chipped in three from the outside, and
Blakely Montgomery dumped over one kill from the setter spot. Montgomery was the third Stag to notch a double-double as she doled out 37 assists and registered 10 digs.
Montgomery, supplemented by 10 assists for
Abby Jandro, ran the Fairfield attack to a .260 hitting percentage.
Defensively,
Kyla Berg set the paced with 13 digs donning the libero jersey, followed by the 12 apiece from Haut and Elliott as well as Montgomery's 10. At the net, Beretich had a hand in six of the Stags' eight blocks, including a pair of solo stuffs. Krubally played a role in three rejections and Walker had two. In total, the Broncs were limited to a .175 hitting percentage by Fairfield's defensive effort.
Rider's Rylah Robinson had 14 kills and the duo of Kiannisha Santiago and Paige Giehtbrock contributed 10 kills apiece.
Fairfield Volleyball concludes the regular season tomorrow – Sunday, Nov. 17 – with a 1 p.m. trip to Saint Peter's. The Peacocks will be wrapping up their 2024 campaign on Sunday after losing in straight sets this afternoon to Sacred Heart to slip to 6-18 with a 4-13 MAAC tally.
The Stags will open the 2024 MAAC Championship in the semifinal round on Saturday, Nov. 23 against an opponent to be determined. The tournament will be held at Siena's UHY Center in Loudonville.
