LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. – Fairfield University Volleyball will play for the 14th MAAC Championship in program history, advancing to Sunday's final with a 3-0 sweep of Canisius in the semifinal round at Siena's UHY Center in Loudonville.
Mamie Krubally paced the Stags to victory with 15 kills on .520 hitting from the right side.
Fairfield improved to 20-11 on the season. The top-seeded Stags advance to the MAAC Championship for the fifth time in six years, missing only the spring 2021 season in which they were forced to withdraw from the tournament due to Covid-19 concerns. Overall, Fairfield will be appearing in the finals for the 23rd time in the last 29 seasons.
Fairfield's also earned its 20th win of the season. Excluding the spring 2021 season in which only 10 matches were played, the Stags have reached the 20-win mark in five consecutive years.
Canisius wraps up its 2024 season at 17-14. The fourth-seeded Griffs defeated Iona, 3-1, on Friday to reach the semifinal round.
"Offensively, we were firing on all cylinders, and our defense was playing very scrappy and putting a lot of pressure on their hitters. Canisius made a good adjustment to their rotation in Set 3, and we just had to hang in their defensively and keep fighting," said Head Coach
Nancy Somera, the 2024 MAAC Coach of the Year.
"We know that we'll be playing a very talented and well-coached team again tomorrow, added Somera. "So we'll watch that match and focus on what we need to do to be ready to play for a championship."
Krubally needed just 25 swings to amass her match-best 15 kills. The All-MAAC First Team sophomore also had four blocks and four digs in the semifinal contest. Fairfield also got solid offensive production from its middle with
Emma Beretich putting down eight kills on .500 hitting and
Maya Walker finishing seven at a .364 clip.
On the outside, the trio of
Mikayla Haut (nine kills),
Allie Elliott (six) and Svenja Rodenbüsch (five) combined for 20 kills on .224 hitting.
The attack was managed by
Blakely Montgomery and
Abby Jandro with 31 and 15 assists, respectively. Fairfield hit .333 for the contest, putting down a total of 52 kills in the 3-0 triumph.
Defensively, Fairfield controlled the net with 11 blocks. Walker had a hand in six of those rejections, with Krubally, Haut and Beretich each getting a piece of four. The back row was led by a match-high 13 digs for
Kyla Berg. Haut added seven from the back row and
Noelle Carey chipped in six.
To round out the scoring, Elliott landed a pair of service aces with Berg, Haut and Montgomery each dropping in one from behind the endline.
Canisius was led by Sofia Hedqvist with 10 kills on .391 hitting. Emma Mans put down eight kills and Kara Zaucha had six. The Griffs hit .198 for the contest, piloted by 23 assists from Ella Bourque.
The Stags will play for the 2024 MAAC Championship on Sunday at 1 p.m. Fairfield will meet the winner of Saturday's semifinal between second-seeded Quinnipiac and third-seeded Rider, which is currently in progress at the UHY Center.
