Manhattan University Athletics

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Manhattan College volleyball team entered Saturday afternoon's match at Fairfield with a chance to tie the Stags for first place in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).  Unfortunately, though, it was Fairfield (18-9, 13-4 MAAC) that earned at least a share of the MAAC regular season crown with a 25-19, 25-15, 25-9 triumph over the Jaspers (18-13, 11-6 MAAC) at Alumni Hall.

Also on Saturday, Marist defeated Siena and Rider lost to Canisius.  Those results guarantee that the Jaspers will be seeded either fourth or fifth in the MAAC Tournament and face Rider in Friday's first round.

Manhattan opened the match by scoring four of the first five points, but Fairfield responded with a 5-0 run to take a 6-4 lead.  After the Stags opened up an 11-7 advantage, the Jaspers went on a 10-4 rally to go back in front, 17-15.  It would be tied at 17-17 and 18-18 before a kill by Olyvia Chaltas (Temecula, Calif.) made it 19-18 in favor of Manhattan.  However, Fairfield ended the frame by taking the final seven points, giving the Stags a 25-19 win.

After Fairfield claimed the first two points of the second set, Manhattan countered with three straight to pull ahead 3-2.  The Jaspers led 9-8 when the Stags rattled off nine of the next 10 points to open up a 17-10 advantage.  Manhattan took the next two points to trim its deficit to five, 17-12, but Fairfield hit .441 (18 kills, three errors, 34 attempts) in the set, which it ended on an 8-3 spurt to secure a 25-15 win and 2-0 lead in the match.

In the third set, Fairfield jumped out to a 10-5 lead before Manhattan took the next two points to pull within three, 10-7.  The Jaspers would get no closer, though, as the Stags won 15 of the next 17 points to capture the set, 25-9, and wrap up their second sweep of Manhattan this season.  Fairfield had 18 kills and hit .333 (four errors, 42 attempts) in the third set.

Claire Van Dyk (New Richmond, Wis.) led the Jaspers with nine kills and 11 digs.  Chaltas hit .500 in the match, slamming six kills without an error on 12 attempts, while Marissa Behrens (Honolulu, Hawaii) had five kills in eight errorless attempts for a .625 hitting percentage.  Jade Gray (Boise, Idaho) finished with 23 assists and eight digs, and Allie Yamashiro (Kapolei, Hawaii) also tallied eight digs.  As a team, Manhattan hit .136 (26-12-103).

For Fairfield, Skyler Day had 16 kills on .519 hitting, and she completed a double-double with 11 digs.  Megan Theiller also recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 15 digs.  Megan O'Sullivan, meanwhile, ripped eight kills on .571 hitting to go along with six blocks.  Sydney Buckley tallied 37 assists and eight digs for the Stags.  Taylor Rudeen collected 14 digs, as Fairfield outdug Manhattan 53-38.  The Stags also held a 7-4 blocking advantage and hit .315 (49-15-108) as a team.