Box Score

FAIRFIELD, Conn. - The Fairfield University volleyball team clinched its 13th consecutive berth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship Tournament with a 3-1 (25-17, 25-14, 25-27, 25-15) victory against Marist College this afternoon at Alumni Hall. With the win, the Stags improve to 16-12 overall and 13-2 in the MAAC while Marist falls to 13-15 overall and 8-7 in the league.

Junior Katie Mann (Del Mar, Calif.), the reigning MAAC Offensive Player of the Week, notched a match-high 15 kills on .600 hitting and did not commit an attack error in 25 attempts. She also collected five total blocks and four digs. With her kills this afternoon, Mann brought her career total to 992 and is eight away from becoming the tenth Stag to reach the 1,000 kill plateau for their career.

Senior Karlie Urbaniak (Canton, Minn.) tallied 10 kills and eight digs while sophomore Alex Lopez (Fort Collins, Colo.) had nine kills and 10 digs, just missing a double-double. Sophomore Lauren Hughes (Costa Mesa, Calif.) chipped in with eight kills while freshman Kendal Dirkin (Oak Park, Ill.) added six kills and two solo blocks.

Fairfield set the tone in the first set, hitting a collective .522 with 14 kills and just two errors in 23 swings. Tied 6-6 in the early going, Urbaniak put the Stags ahead to stay with a kill. The Red Foxes pulled within 15-13 but Urbaniak stopped their run with another kill and helped Fairfield close the set on a 6-2 run. Fairfield carried the momentum into the second stanza, opening up a 17-6 lead and never looking back. The Stags hit only .194 but managed to hold the Red Foxes to just four kills in the set.

Marist began the third frame on a 4-0 run. Fairfield tied things up 11-11 on a kill by Mann and then took the next two points for the 13-11 lead. But, back-to-back errors by the Stags allowed the Red Foxes to tie the score back up. The two teams continued the back-and-forth battle with Marist finally opening a 24-21 lead. However, the Stags stormed back to tie the score, 24-24. With the score knotted at 25-25, Marist's Alexandra Shultze and Lindsey Schmid were able to close things out with kills for the 27-25 victory.

Fairfield bounced back in the fourth set taking a 13-7 advantage and a lead which they would not relinquish. The Stags hit .419 for the frame with 15 kills and just two errors in 31 attempts.

The Stags hit .297 for the match while the Red Foxes hit .098. Fairfield also held a 7-4 advantage in blocks.

For the Stags, setter Lauren Balmert (Cranberry Twp., Pa.) had 38 assists, seven kills on .417 hitting, six digs, and three aces. Defensively, senior Brandi Higa (Honolulu, Hawaii) had 15 digs while freshman Haililani Pokipala (Honolulu, Hawaii) added eight.

Joanna Foss led the Red Foxes with 12 kills while Schultze finished with 11 kills.

The 2008 MAAC Championship will be hosted by Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. and will be held Nov. 23-24. Siena and Fairfield have each clinched berths in the tournament.

Fairfield is back in action tomorrow as it hosts Siena at 2 p.m. in Alumni Hall in a battle for the top-spot in the MAAC. Sunday's match will be streamed live via www.FairfieldStags.com in conjunction with the B2 Network. For more information, click on the blue B2 link on the Stags homepage. In addition, the first 100 students to the match against the Saints will receive a free t-shirt.