Fairfield University Volleyball makes its 14th NCAA Championship appearance on Thursday, Dec. 5 at #7 nationally-ranked and second-seeded Wisconsin. First serve between the MAAC Champion Stags and the Big Ten's Badgers is set for 8 p.m. (ET) at UW Field House in Madison.

'SHIP STATS
Fairfield returns to the national stage for the second straight season and the third time in the last four years. The Stags will be representing the MAAC as the conference champion for the 14th time, previously reaching the NCAA Championship in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023.

The Stags are 0-13 all-time in the NCAA Championship. Fairfield was the first and one of only two MAAC teams to ever win a set in the national postseason. The Stags took a frame from #15 Pepperdine in 2000 and nearly forced a fifth set before falling, 16-14, to drop a 3-1 match in Malibu.

HOW THEY GOT HERE
Top-seeded Fairfield won the MAAC Championship with a 3-1 victory over second-seeded Quinnipiac on Nov. 24 at Siena's UHY Center in Loudonville. The Stags defeated fourth-seeded Canisius in straight sets in the semifinal round.

This year's final was the third time that the same two teams will meet in the MAAC Championship Match for (at least) three years in a row. Previously, Siena defeated Fairfield in four straight title matches from 2005-08, and the Stags upended Saint Peter's for the crown in three consecutive years from 1997-99.

2024 MAAC REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONS
Fairfield Volleyball is the only team in the nation to have won six consecutive outright Regular Season Championships (no shares, no divisions). In total, the Stags have won or shared 23 of the last 29 MAAC Regular Season crowns.

In addition to six consecutive MAAC Regular Season Championships, the Stags have won nine of the last 10 and 11 of the last 13 regular season titles.

COMING UP CLUTCH
Mamie Krubally was named the MAAC Championship MVP after putting down 26 kills on .479 hitting in the Stags' seven sets of tournament action. Blakely Montgomery was also tabbed for the All-Championship Team after dishing out 8.29 assists per frame and guiding the Stags to a .337 hitting percentage for the weekend. Maya Walker, who was last season's MAAC Championship MVP, picked up another All-Championship nod by tallying 2.29 kills per frame on .500 hitting with eight blocks in seven sets.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Fairfield's semifinal win over Canisius was also its 20th victory 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. Fairfield owns a total of 19 20-win seasons in the last 29 years.

ALL-MAAC HONORS
Fairfield collected a total of seven year-end awards from the MAAC, as announced this past Wednesday morning. Head Coach Nancy Somera was selected by her peers as the MAAC Coach of the Year, while six student-athletes received All-MAAC recognition from the league's 12 head coaches.
 
Allie Elliott, Mamie Krubally and Maya Walker were all named to the All-MAAC First Team, the duo of Mikayla Haut and Blakely Montgomery earned All-MAAC Second Team distinction, and Harlan Wyche was selected as one of eighth members of the MAAC All-Rookie Team.

Somera earns MAAC Coach of the Year honors for the first time in her second season leading the Stags. She guided Fairfield to a 17-1 MAAC record and the 2024 MAAC Regular Season Championship, following up on 2023's MAAC Regular Season and Tournament Championships in her first year at the helm. Somera is 43-18 overall as the head coach of the Stags.

CHART CLIMBERS
Kyla Berg is only the sixth Stag to eclipse 1,500 career digs. With 1,572 digs and counting, Berg ranks sixth all-time at Fairfield, sitting 22 behind the 1,594 digs tallied by Jazmin Pa'akaula from 2004-07. Berg's 3.47 digs per set throughout her career rank fifth in Fairfield history.

Blakely Montgomery ranks seventh in Stags' history with 2,458 career assists.

With 306 blocks and counting, Maya Walker is eighth all-time at Fairfield. Her 120 rejections this fall also crack the single-season top 10.

SAVE OUR HARDWARE FOR NOVEMBER
Despite a 17-1 MAAC record and six student-athletes ultimately earning All-MAAC recognition, Fairfield Volleyball did not receive a MAAC weekly award (Player, Setter, Libero or Rookie of the Week) in any week over the course of the regular season.

FIVE YEARS, FOUR HOUSES
As a five-year member of the Stags this season, Kyla Berg has played on four different home courts in her career at Fairfield. The 2020 (spring 2021) Stags played home matches at both Alumni Hall and Rafferty Gymnasium, Fairfield's basketball practice facility inside the Walsh Athletic Center. In 2021 and 2022, Fairfield played inside the University RecPlex while awaiting the completion of the Leo D. Mahoney Arena - the home of the Stags beginning in the fall of 2023.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE
In the first year of the "unbalanced" MAAC schedule, Fairfield and travel partner Sacred Heart played the toughest conference slate of any league squad. The Stags and Pioneers are the only MAAC teams to play both ends of the home-and-home against six of the league's top seven teams.

NON-CONFERENCE NOTES
The Stags went 2-10 in the non-conference season, playing one of the toughest schedules in the MAAC. The Stags' non-MAAC slate featured 11 of 12 teams currently ranked in the top 200 in RPI, including seven in the top 100.

Fairfield's win over Southeastern Louisiana (#55) in the program's best "RPI win" since a 2021 win over High Point, which finished that campaign with an RPI of 48.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BRACKET
The second matchup in Madison this Thursday will feature Tennessee and seventh-seeded Georgia Tech.

The winner between the Stags and Badgers will meet the winner of the Lady Vols/Yellow Jackets match on Friday, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. (ET).