The Fairfield University Women’s Volleyball team crushed Siena College at 1 p.m. on Nov. 3 following a loss against Quinnipiac University on Oct. 26. The Stags claimed three of the fourmatches and their record now stands at 11-13, 10-5 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, while Siena’s is 3-25, 1-14 MAAC.
First-year Julia Kallen played remarkably well on Saturday, with 19 total kills in four sets. A first year Stag has not accomplished this feat in four years. The day was full of firsts, as captain Nora Quinn ‘19 made 13 total blocks, setting a new rally-scoring record for Fairfield University Volleyball. The team dynamic has certainly shifted in our favor as the clock ticks with only three games left before the MAAC Tournament. We have the home-court advantage for the trio of remaining matches, but must power play at full strength to make up for the seven Stags impaired from injuries.
In the first set, Fairfield and Siena were neck and neck, but ultimately our skill helped us prevail.
The Stags registered 15 kills, which almost doubled Siena’s eight, and certainly asserted our dominance. Nine of Kallen’s 19 kills were tallied in the initial set. Fairfield’s first three points of the set were kills; two by Kallen and one by Laura Seeger ’22. Meanwhile, the first four points belonged to Siena due to errors by Fairfield. In all 25 points, Siena was unable to secure a single lead, which certainly added to Fairfield’s unbeatable momentum. Fairfield finished up the set, claiming the last three points and cementing the score at 25-17.
Going into the second set, Siena still had room to come back from failure. They started the scoring and took the first three points, but a bad set by Siena rookie Maddy Dunigan put Fairfield on the board.
Otherwise, Siena was on fire leading the set early 7-3. What we needed was for Kallen to come back and play as well as she had earlier. Sonja Radulovic ’20, who had 13 kills on Saturday, started a killing streak which was followed with another two by Kallen and one by Mayda Garcia ’20. Siena came back when Fairfield was within a point (8-9, Siena) and amassed another four points, making the score 13-8. Fairfield coach Todd Kress called a timeout to break Siena’s streak. Returning from the timeout, Fairfield was back within two points of Siena. They certainly made some ground to keep themselves in contention for a second win, but Siena evened the score 1-1 when they owned the second match (25-17). This guaranteed a fourth match.
The two MAAC teams entered the third match at even strength. Siena erred on the first serve when Maddy Dunigan ‘22 made on error on an attack. Following that, another Kallen kill kept Fairfield up by two. Siena head coach Vilis Ozols, who was visibly frustrated, received a yellow card as his team remained scoreless. Radulovic’s service error finally earned a point for Siena. The following four points went to Fairfield; one credited to Garcia while the other three were errors on Siena. Two were on unsuccessful attacks by rookie Saint Nicole Deobler. Although she had nine kills this game, this time her efforts failed. At 6-1 in Fairfield’s favor, Siena used their second timeout of the game. Later at 15-8 after five consecutive points for the Stags, the Saints used their third total timeout of the game, and final timeout of the set. Following four Fairfield errors, a timeout was called at 20-14 with Siena trailing behind by 6. Luckily, Fairfield was able to finish it off and scored five easy points to win the match 25-15. The score was 2-1.
Siena establishes an early lead ahead of Fairfield, 6-4. Although Siena had more total attempts in the fourth, 33 to 37, Fairfield’s hitting percentage put Siena’s to shame -.108 to .242. Fairfield nearly tripled the amount of kills of Siena with a total of 15-5. Our home team undoubtedly outplayed and outsmarted their opponents. For this reason, Fairfield came out on top. The game ended with a Fairfield victory of 25-13 in four sets.
Notable players included Taylor Rudeen ‘19 who counted 20 digs, Alexis Rich ‘22 with a whopping 51 assists and Sophia Hosokawa ‘22 who had two aces.
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