FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Volleyball hosts a Big XII opponent for the first time in program history when West Virginia University comes to Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Friday. First serve between the Stags and Mountaineers is slated for 5 p.m.
 
Admission is free for all fans at all Fairfield Volleyball home matches this season.
 
Fairfield University Stags (2-8, 0-0 MAAC)

• The Stags challenged 2023 Big East finalist St. John's on Wednesday night in Queens, falling by a 3-2 score.
• Fairfield racked up 16 blocks against the Red Storm – the most rejections in a match by a MAAC team this season.
• Maya Walker had a hand in a team-leading eight of those 16 stuffs. Mikayla Haut had five – including two solo stuffs – in addition to her team-best 12 kills.
• St. John's was Fairfield's seventh opponent this season that finished 2023 with a top 100 RPI. The Stags' non-conference slate has featured four 2023 conference champions and five NCAA postseason qualifiers.

 
West Virginia University Mountaineers (4-5, 0-0 Big XII)

• West Virginia went 1-2 last weekend at Liberty, falling to Virginia and East Tennessee State before knocking off the host Flames.
• The Mountaineers also own wins over Navy, Hofstra and North Dakota State.
• West Virginia's roster is comprised of six returners and seven newcomers to a 2023 squad that finished 9-22 overall and 2-16 in the Big XII.
• The Mountaineers' first-year head coach Jen Greeny was an assistant on the Washington State staff that visited Fairfield in both 2017 (at Alumni Hall) and 2022 (at the RecPlex).

 
The Matchup

• Fairfield won the only prior meeting with West Virginia, 3-0, at the Penn State Invitational on Sept. 16, 2000.
• The Stags also swept Eastern Kentucky that weekend and fell in straight sets to #3 Penn State – an eventual Elite Eight team.
• That 2000 Fairfield squad won its fourth consecutive MAAC Championship and became the first MAAC team to ever win a set in the NCAA postseason, falling at #15 Pepperdine by a 3-1 score.
• Fairfield has never hosted a Big XII team, but has had some "close calls" in recent years. The Stags played Big XII member Colorado in New Haven in 2009 as a part of the Yale Invitational, hosted former Big XII member Missouri in 2013 – the Tigers' first season in the SEC – and played future Big XII squad UCF in 2012 in the town of Fairfield, albeit at Sacred Heart.

 
Up Next

• The Stags officially begin the defense of the 2023 MAAC Championship next weekend with trips to Iona and Manhattan – their only meeting with either squad on the 2024 schedule.
• The Gaels are 1-8 on the season entering a weekend tournament at St. John's, while the Jaspers have a weekend off before welcoming NJIT to Draddy Gymnasium next Tuesday prior to hosting Sacred Heart and Fairfield to begin MAAC play.
• Action returns to Mahoney Arena in the following week as the Stags host Sacred Heart on Wednesday, Oct. 2 and then entertain Quinnipiac and Merrimack on Oct. 5-6.