Volleyball: Stags win 14th in a row over Marist

[FU73]

The #1 Stags (18-6)(13-0) won their 14th in a row with a hard fought 3-1 (25-21, 26-28, 25-19, 25-21 ) win over #3 Marist (12-13)(9-5) in Alumni Hall. The Stags had trailed 13-17 in the 4th set and rallied for the 25-21 win.

"Marist did some good things to push us, especially at the net from a blocking standpoint. I give them a lot of credit for how they pressed us," Kress said. "I think tonight was a wake-up call for a good number of us. We'll be better over the next two days in practice and ready to go this weekend."

Taylor Rudeen finished the night with 1,002 career digs as the 16th member of Fairfield's 1,000 Dig Club – a list that includes teammate Megan Theiller (1,112 digs, 12th all-time). The junior has played every set at libero for the Stags this fall.

"Taylor is doing a tremendous job anchoring the defense and our serve-receive ," said Head Coach Todd Kress. "It's attributed to her hard work in practice. She works hard and takes pride in her reps, and it has shown in her performance.

The Stags have now clinched a first round bye as one of the top two seeds in the upcoming MAAC Volleyball Championship, which will take place at Alumni Hall on Nov. 17-19. The Stags can claim at least a share of their 17th Regular Season Championship this weekend with two wins or one win and a Niagara loss.

Box Score:
fairfieldstags.com/boxscore.aspx?id=5384&path=wvball

[FU73]

Fairfield (18-6, 13-0 MAAC) clinched a first-round bye in the upcoming MAAC Championship with Wednesday's 3-1 win over Marist. Two victories will give the Stags at least a share of their 17th regular season crown since 1996, while two victories coupled with a Niagara loss (at Siena, at Marist) would lock up the outright title for Fairfield.

"As a team, we don't discuss things like that," said Head Coach Todd Kress. "If anything, we're talking about the pressure that we'll face from the other side of the net as our opponents are battling to get into the postseason or for positioning in the tournament."

Currently, Fairfield and Niagara are the only two teams to have officially clinched their place in the MAAC Championship, which will be held at Alumni Hall from Nov. 17-19. Marist, Rider, Canisius, Iona, Quinnipiac and Siena are all within three matches of each other in the loss column and the six teams jockey for the four remaining playoff berths.

"First and foremost, we need to take care of ourselves," Kress continued. "We need to be better than we were on Wednesday from a number of different standpoints – distributing the ball, shot selection and how we adjust and react to adversity".

[stags74]

I would agree with coach the stags were not as sharp as I have seen them previously. Their next real test will be vs Niagara next week. Will the senior leadership of skylar and thriller be enough? Championship in sight, go stags!