FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Fairfield University Volleyball stayed unbeaten in the Metro Conference with a 3-1 victory over visiting Iona on Saturday at Leo D. Mahoney Arena.
Mamie Krubally paced the attack with 15 kills to help the Stags to a win by set scores of 25-23, 16-25, 25-22, and 25-18.
The Stags' 11-0 mark in the Metro is a part of a 17-5 overall tally. Iona dropped to 11-12 on the season and 6-5 in league play after the loss.
"Iona is one of the toughest defenses in the Metro, and we needed to match their intensity to win those longer rallies when both teams are doing a good job of keeping the ball off the floor," said Head Coach
Nancy Somera. "Credit to our back row for winning a lot of those battles and to our offense for staying calm and making smart decisions even when we needed four or five swings to win a point."
Krubally's 15 kills came on .355 hitting from the right side, while
Sophia Nagy added 10 kills from the middle at a .529 clip. The rookie tandem of
Aislin Oldach and
Julie Dufourt each contributed seven kills from the left pin and
Harlan Wyche added six finishers.
The attack was run by
Zofia Sykut, who finished with 31 assists and three kills.
Noella Migliuri added eight assists and dumped over two of her own.
Sykut also contributed to the scoring with four service aces. Wyche landed a pair of winners with Cooke, Dufourt, Oldach, and
Natalie Carlin each scoring once from beyond the endline.
Dufourt led the Fairfield defense with a career-best 15 digs. Cook, who donned the libero jersey for two sets after starting the match on the pins, finished with eight, while Sykut and Oldach had seven digs apiece. A total of nine Stags had at least two digs as the Stags led that category, 54-52, against an Iona team that ranks second in the nation in digs per frame.
At the net, Nagy had a piece of five Fairfield blocks. The Stags racked up a total of nine team rejections, also buoyed by four for Wyche and two apiece from Sykut and Krubally.
Julia Leonardo led the Gaels with 12 kills in addition to nine apiece from Kari Smith and Buse Tinaz. Smith and Avery Gaume each had 11 digs for the Gaels.
A three-match week is on deck for the Stags starting with a return match with Sacred Heart at Mahoney Arena on Tuesday, Oct. 27. Fairfield will then hit the road to visit Merrimack and Quinnipiac on Oct. 30-31 to close out the month.
