It was certainly a very exciting day on Saturday, Sept. 27 when the Stags and Quinnipiac Bobcats fought a fierce volleyball battle in Alumni Hall. The Stags ultimately won 3-0.
The starting lineup was as follows: Megan Theiller ‘18, Carsen Mata ‘14, Megan O’Sullivan ‘17, Lindsay Weaver ‘15, Bella Guanciale ‘17, Hadley Orr ‘16 and Marilyn Peizer ‘15.
Although the fans were anxious, the players had plenty of confidence and positivity.
“I’m never nervous because it’s just a game. You treat every game the same way. You come out here, play hard, play smart and have fun,” Theiller said. “No matter who we’re playing and who’s on the other side, we have to come out strong and play our game from the beginning.”
This game was one of the more important games of the season, as the Bobcats are one of Fairfield’s Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference rivals. Clearly, they didn’t get in the way of the Stags’ success on the court.
“For every game, we try to just come out and play consistently and try to prepare the same way no matter who we play,” Mata said.
Although the Bobcats seemed to be holding up, the Stags were focused and composed as they won all three games with scores of 25-20, 25-15 and 25-18.
“Our goal as a team is to get better, so that doesn’t necessarily mean that we win every single game. Whether we win or lose, we want to just be playing our best volleyball individually and as a team,” Mata said.
What is special about this season is that Fairfield has a new head coach, Todd Kress. “I was here coaching the team from ‘95 and ‘99 before and being back has been great. I’ve always been a fan of the university, the people and the location. It’s a great school with great education, so I couldn’t be more happy to be back,” said Kress.
Even though the Stags vanquished the Bobcats, they have an unstoppable work drive.
“We really just focus on day-to-day processes, getting better every day and after every match. My expectations are that we will come into the gym, work hard, try to be better than we were yesterday and turn our weaknesses into strengths,” Kress said.
After the win, the Stags’ overall record is 6-8 and the Bobcat’s record is 2-12.
“Although I thought that we had too many unforced errors, one thing that we did a decent job of was passing. We worked a lot and since we dedicated a lot of time towards passing, it was certainly a step in the right direction,” Kress said.
Their next games are at Fairfield on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 1 p.m. versus Siena, and on Sunday Oct. 5 at 1 p.m. versus Marist.
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