KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Fairfield University Volleyball rose to the challenge of two matches on Saturday afternoon to conclude the weekend at the University of Tennessee. The Stags swept Colgate, 3-0, in the day's first contest and then went toe-to-toe with the #22 Lady Vols in the nightcap, pushing the hosts to the brink in the first two sets of a 3-0 defeat.
The Stags concluded the weekend at 1-2. In addition to today's action, Fairfield lost a five-set clash with Ohio Valley favorite Morehead State on Friday in Knoxville.
Fairfield 3, Colgate 0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-15)
The Stags rolled past Colgate for their first win of 2026, which also marked their first victory in eight matches all-time against the perennial Patriot League contender Raiders. Fairfield hit a blistering .359 for the match with
Emma Bortolotti and
Aislin Oldach pacing the balanced attack with seven kills apiece. Bortolotti was errorless on the day for a .700 hitting percentage.
Katelyn Cook added six kills from the left side and
Mamie Krubally had five on the right pin.
Sophia Nagy added five kills on .500 hitting and
Harlan Wyche put down three on five swings without an error.
Julie Dufourt capped the offense with her first collegiate kill.
Zofia Sykut dished out 16 assists and notched seven digs, while
Noella Migliuri rounded out the Fairfield 6-2 offense with nine assists to go along with five digs, and two service aces.
Cook also had a pair of aces and led the back row defense with eight digs. Dufourt chipped in seven digs, and
Nicole Macalintal had five. At the net, Wyche got a piece of seven of the Stags' 10 blocks. Bortolotti played a role in five Fairfield stuffs as the defense limited Colgate to a .081 team hitting percentage.
In the opening set, Fairfield took a lead at 4-3 that it would maintain for the remainder of the stanza. The Stags steadily grew their lead – never embarking on an extended run but only twice allowing Colgate to score consecutive points in the set. The margin stood comfortably at 21-14 before Fairfield rattled off a set-best four in a row, including a Sykut ace and punctuated by a Nagy kill to close out a 25-14 opening frame. Bortolotti went 4-for-4 hitting in the first set to pace the Stags to a .417 team percentage. The defensive effort was led by a trio – Cook, Macalintal, and Sykut – with four digs apiece. Cook also landed both of her aces in the opening stanza.
The decisive Fairfield run came earlier in the second set as the Stags emerged out of a 10-10 tie with six of the next seven points to claim a 16-11 advantage. The Stags absorbed a late four-point Colgate spurt that cut the lead to 20-18, starting with a Krubally kill and a block from Krubally and Wyche to swing the momentum back to Fairfield en route to a 25-20 set win and a 2-0 lead in the match. Seven different Stags accounted for Fairfield's 11 kills in the set, and Wyche had a hand in four of the Stags' five blocks.
Fairfield continued its surge in the third frame, winning 10 of the stanza's first 13 rallies. Colgate would draw any closer than five points for the Stags the rest of the way as Fairfield coasted to a sweep with a 25-15 third set. Cook and Oldach helped to ice the match with three kills apiece in Set 3.
Morgan Reese led the Raiders with nine kills on .389 hitting. Colgate's Hannah Langton led all players with 11 digs.
Fairfield 0, #22 Tennessee 3 (25-27, 23-25, 12-25)
Fairfield's final test of the weekend was the nationally-ranked tournament host, #22 Tennessee. The Stags sparred for two sets with the Lady Vols, who did not allow Colgate or Morehead State to score more than 18 points in a set this weekend, but faded late as Tennessee took a 3-0 final.
Mamie Krubally reached double figures with 10 kills for the Stags, supplemented by seven for
Aislin Oldach and five on nine errorless tries by
Sophia Nagy.
Emma Bortolotti added four and
Mia Jean Claude made her 2026 debut with three finishers.
Harlan Wyche pitched in two and
Katelyn Cook had one on her two swings from the back row.
Zofia Sykut and
Noella Migliuri distributed 14 and eight assists, respectively, and each pitched in five digs.
Defensively,
Nicole Macalintal had 10 digs followed by Oldach's seven. At the net, Bortolotti and Wyche teamed up for two blocks and Krubally had one solo rejection.
The Lady Vols were off to a hot start in the opening set, surging out to a 12-3 advantage. A kill from Cook and an Oldach ace ended slowed the host's momentum and started the Stags on the comeback trail. Those two started an 11-5 stretch in favor of Fairfield to close the gap, but Tennessee responded to reopen a 23-18 lead, just two points from claiming the stanza. Fairfield fired back, taking advantage of a service error before back-to-back Krubally kills shrank the deficit to 23-21. Tennessee took one back to earn a set-point opportunity, but the Stags responded once again with two consecutive Nagy kills and a Cook service ace to knot the frame at 24-24. The teams then traded a point – Krubally earning the kill for the Stags to fight off a fourth set point – before the Lady Vols finally strung together two in the row to escape the opening set with a 27-25 decision.
Despite the loss, the Stags carried their confidence into the second set, trading points with the Lady Vols out to a 7-7 tie. Fairfield emerged from the deadlock with 6-1 stretch before Tennessee fired back with six points of their own to take a 14-13 edge. Nagy put down a kill to tie the match at 14-14, but the hosts controlled the next stretch to claim a 22-19 advantage. Fairfield had one more rally in store, putting together three points in a row to knot the set at 22-22, but the Lady Vols once again had the final word in a 25-23 final to put the Stags in an 0-2 hole in the match.
Set 3 saw Tennessee take an early lead that they would not relinquish, jumping ahead 11-4 after the first 15 rallies of the stanza. The Stags' attack started to put points on the board, but couldn't keep the Lady Vols from doing the same as the hosts closed out a 25-12 win in the set and a 3-0 victory.
Tennessee's Kennedi Rogers led all players with 21 kills on .390 hitting and completed a double-double with 10 digs. All-America setter Caroline Kerr dished out 41 assists running the Lady Vols' attack.
Up Next
Fairfield Volleyball returns to the Northeast for three matches next weekend in Boston. The Stags head to Cambridge for a Friday, Sept. 4 clash at Harvard followed by two matches on Saturday, Sept. 5 at Northeastern – an 11 a.m. matchup with Holy Cross and a 5 p.m. showdown with the host Huskies.
Fairfield will then play a pair of matches on Long Island on Sept. 11-12 before opening the home slate with the Fairfield Invitational at Leo D. Mahoney Arena on Sept. 17-19.
Notes
- Courtney Vines made her collegiate debut against the Lady Vols.
- In addition to her first three kills, Mia Jean Claude recorded her first career dig against Tennessee.
- Fairfield played three teams this weekend that finished 2025 with a top 100 RPI. The Stags' non-conference schedule also includes Army West Point (final RPI of 91).
- Tennessee was Fairfield's first nationally ranked opponent in the regular season since visiting #16 BYU on opening weekend of the 2024 campaign.
- Fairfield's last match against an SEC opponent was an Aug. 28, 2021 encounter with Texas A&M in Hawai'i.
