Later this evening, Connecticut takes the trip down I-95 from Storrs, Conn. to challenge senior Katie Mann, winner of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Player of the Week award for four consecutive weeks, and the Stags, winners of six straight and, once again, the conference standard.
Attend. Watch. Enjoy. But don’t judge.
Regardless of the result in what may prove to be a winnable in-state game — the Huskies boast just as many wins and losses this season — a win doesn’t mean nearly as much these weeks, a triumph doesn’t carry as much weight as as the trend. That trend, of course, is that the Stags have turned a corner since their previous non-conference game, a 3-2 loss to Fordham on Sept. 15.
Pinpointing the exact reason why this team is once again atop the MAAC standings and the lead contender for the conference championship isn’t hard. Sure, some of it is due to the maturation of Kara Reis, the team’s freshman libero who has become a calming defensive presence. Some of it is due to the team’s newfound depth, which includes freshman Briana Dixion and juniors Alex Lopez and Lauren Hughes.
But it doesn’t take a seasoned scout to see that the Stags go as Katie Mann goes. And, given the way that the senior stud is playing, it’s hard to bet against them. Better yet, it’s hard to bet against a motivated senior with the grains of sand slowly slipping away and the calendar ready to turn toward November.
Forget the statistics. Everyone from Buffalo to Baltimore knows that Mann leads the team in kills (261) and trumps everyone in the conference in hitting percentage (.375).
Senior Katie Mann has won four consecutive MAAC player of the week awards. (Peter Caty/The Mirror)
Forget the records. Any fan on campus knows that it won’t be long until Mann, who moved tied the career block assist record this past weekend in the Stags’ match against Rider, sits in the upper echelon of the record books. As the program’s second overall leader in blocks and fourth all-time standout in kills, it won’t be long until the name ‘Mann’ stands alongside Joanna Saunders, Connie Paul and other volleyball greats and and casts a shadow over Alumni Hall.
Forget all of that.
If there is one thing that the Fairfield fall teams and MAAC Champions of the past have proven, it is that intangible elements, come playoff time, mean just as much as statistics and matchups. And that edge is always a senior.
Just nine months ago, we saw it twice. Head coach Jim O’Brien’s Stags entered November a decent team, but were labeled a distant long shot for a the MAAC Championship. In fact, it was highly questionable whether seniors Robyn Decker and Carolina Downey would even survive the first-round, given that the Stags had lost to their first-round opponent, Siena, earlier that season.
Then came senior Ahna Johnson, the MAAC Offensive Player of the Year, and a heroic three-goal effort in the conference championship game. And the Stags went from searching for answers to sipping champagne.
Head coach Carl Rees saw it in similarly dramatic fashion a week later. The defensive presence of senior Tom Clements and the steady hand of goalkeeper Justin Burse, a fifth-year senior transfer from Fordham, led Fairifeld on an unlikely run, culminating in the team’s victory over Loyola (Md.), which boasted an undefeated record and sixth overall national ranking. Not too shabby for a team that began the season in crisis mode after losing five of the team’s first eight contests.
But something tells me that that senior magic wasn’t all that unfamiliar for Rees. Just ask Alex Cunliffe or Mike Troy.
So when Katie Mann takes the court on Wednesday night, watch, enjoy, and understand that you’re watching a special player that may just be hitting her senior surge at just the right time. But don’t judge her, and don’t judge the Stags.
Because if you are Fairfield, you don’t show you’re worthy of the label as ‘the’ team to break the team’s five consecutive championship game loss streak with an out-of-conference home victory. You show it against Siena, in the championship game, with everything and more on the line. And no one knows that the Stags, you don’t silence any critics in late October.
And if you’re Katie Mann, you don’t prove that your worthy of a place in the rafters of Alumni Hall with a killer outing against UConn. You don’t prove that your name holds the same weight as Alex and Ahna with a nice midseason streak. And no one know that more than this team and this senior.
Bet against her at your risk.
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