Box Score
FAIRFIELD, CT – On Saturday afternoon, the Manhattan College volleyball team played its first Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) road match of the season against defending MAAC champion Fairfield. In the first meeting between the squads since the five-set thriller in last season's MAAC semifinals, the Stags (10-5, 3-0 MAAC) halted Manhattan's (4-11, 1-1 MAAC) four-match winning streak with a 25-20, 25-15, 25-15 triumph at Alumni Hall.
It was a tight first set, as there were 11 ties and six lead changes in the opening frame. Neither side held an advantage of more than two points until Fairfield used a 6-1 run to turn a 15-15 tie into a 21-16 cushion. The Jaspers scored the next three points to get back within 21-19, but the Stags ended the set on a 4-1 rally to secure a 25-20 win.
In the second set, Fairfield jumped out to a 5-1 lead, and the Stags extended that margin to 13-5 before a Milena Janjusevic (Belgrade, Serbia) kill and an Ivana Kostic (Grocka, Serbia) service ace brought Manhattan within 13-7. However, Fairfield responded with a 5-1 spurt to push its advantage back to 10 points at 18-8. The Stags took the set by a 25-15 count to go up 2-0 in the match.
After the Stags took an early 9-6 lead in the third set, Manhattan rattled off three straight points to tie the score. However, Fairfield scored eight of the next nine points to open up a 17-10 advantage. The Jaspers got back within five at 18-13, but would get no closer, as the Stags completed the sweep with a 25-15 third set win.
Olyvia Chaltas (Temecula, CA) paced the Jaspers with seven kills, while Sandra Lozanova (Pernik, Bulgaria) and Kostic ended up with six kills apiece. Kostic didn't commit an error in eight attempts, finishing with a .750 hitting percentage. Zoe Lindsey (McHenry, IL) contributed 23 assists and five digs, and Allie Yamashiro (Kapolei, HI) recorded a match-high 14 digs for the Jaspers. As a team, Manhattan hit .180 (29 kills, 13 errors, 89 attempts) in the match.
For the Stags, Megan Theiller finished with 17 kills on .333 hitting to go along with seven digs. Skyler Day, meanwhile, had 16 kills and hit .375, as Fairfield posted a team hitting percentage of .383 (53-12-107). Manuela Nicolini handed out 24 assists, and Sydney Buckely finished with 17 assists and six digs. Taylor Rudeen registered 12 digs, as the Stags outdug the Jaspers 42-34.
Manhattan returns to action on Sunday with a 1 p.m. matchup at Quinnipiac (12-5, 4-0 MAAC). The Jaspers have won all six meetings against the Bobcats since Quinnipiac joined the MAAC in 2013.