Weekend warriors

If this weekend was any indication, the MAAC may dread the game on the’ schedule marked ‘Fairfield’ once again this season.

Sophomore Lauren Hughes recorded 19 kills and 32 total attempts in a 3-1 win against Rider this past Friday night at Alumni Hall.

A day later, Fairfield showed no signs of fatigue and enjoyed an equally impressive showing against Manhattan, cruising to a win in three consecutive sets.

Aside from Fairfield’s first in-conference wins of the season, the weekend also marked the first career victory for new Head Coach Alija Pittenger.

‘We’ve made a lot of improvement,’ said Pittenger. ‘A lot of people who didn’t play for us so far this year have made a lot of progress.’

The win on Friday also moved Fairfield’s stunning home record at Alumni Hall to 32-1 in MAAC play since 2003.

Fairfield looked poised for a strong night from the outset of Friday’s match. All-MAAC pre-season selection Katie Mann ’10 appropriately tallied the first point of the evening, and added another two kills to take the set, 25-15

The Broncs, though, bounced back with a strong effort in the second set. After falling behind 1-0 early in the game, Rider rode four kills by sophomore Katelyn Thompson and held on for a 25-23 win.

Unfortunately for the Broncs, that was as close as they would come.

Fairfield went on to win the next two sets to take the match, 3-0.

Including the team’s dominating performance at Manhattan the next day, the Stags never trailed again for the remainder of the weekend.

The team won the weekends’ next five sets (two against Rider, three against Manhattan), by a collective score of 125-75.

Moreover, Pittenger’s team never trailed at any point in those five sets.

Despite losing several key seniors and her position as a rookie coach, Pittenger feels the first two wins are a sign that the team is clearly one of the top contenders for the MAAC championship.

‘We have some people with experience on this team,’ Pittenger said. ‘We have Katie Mann ’10 back, so is Karly [Urbaniak] ’09, who has contributed over the years.’

‘It’s not unreasonable for us to be a successful team,’ said Pittenger.

Pittenger insisted, though, that there is still plenty of margin for improvement for this somewhat youthful roster as the season progresses.

‘We’re young, so [improving] is a goal,’ Pittenger said. ‘I think when you have a new team that hasn’t played much together, or played much in college in general, you just want to see improvements on the court.’

The start of the MAAC schedule could potentially bring a much needed confidence boost to a team that struggled in out-of-conference play.

Prior to the team’s match Friday night against Rider, the Stags had lost seven consecutive matches and saw its record slip to 2-7.

Furthermore, the team has shown that it has little problem with MAAC competiton in recent’ years.

The Stags have only lost nine conference matches dating back to 1997, claiming five berths to the NCAA tournament during that span.

Recently, though, a string of five consecutive losses in the MAAC championship game has undermined the team’s dominant conference play.

Pittenger insists that the team is far from thinking about tournament play this early in the season.

‘I haven’t really thought about it a whole lot,’ Pittenger said.

Following a Thursday match at Marist, the Stags return home for three consecutive games at Alumni Hall against conference opponents.

At that point, the Stags then face easily their biggest challenge of the ‘second season’ in an Oct. 11 match-up against rival Siena, a team that defeated Fairfield in last season’s MAAC championship at Alumni Hall.

But this season, the Saints’ have struggled and enter conference play with a 2-8 record, which includes a surprising loss in the team’s out-of-conference opener to Canisius.

Perhaps the opening weekend, then, is more than just an indication of an early-season turning point; it may just be a changing of the guard.