Fordham 3 Fairfield 2

The Fairfield University Women's Volleyball team (8-14, 7-3 MAAC) was edged 3-2 by the Fordham Rams (13-14) last night. They have lost four of their last six matches and have lost two straight against the Jesuit rival. For the full story click here.

The Least You Should Know:

- Rachel Romansky had a career high, 60 assists in the contest. That was in the top fifteen in Fairfield history in a single game. Lauren Balmert never had such a game.

- Defending MAAC offensive player of the week, Haililani Pokipala had the seventh double double of the year with 13 kills and 10 digs.

- Alex Lopez had a season high of 13 kills.

- Kara Reis had a season high of 20 digs

This is probably the best game the Stags had played all year. Four Stags have registered a season high in a category. The only thing is, can they keep this up in MAAC play? Coming up, they play Iona who have already beaten them this year. then they play the top two teams in the conference the following week. This is going to be a crucial week for The Stags so they can play their best before the tournament.

Rachel Romanksy earns MAAC Rookie of the Week

Stags setter Rachel Romansky earned her first MAAC Rookie of the Week. For the full story click here. She had a breakout weekend posting 67 assists and also tallying 11 kills on a .409 hitting percentage.

I honestly think she could be one of the better players on the team already. It seems that every game, she does something positive for the team. She has been filling up her stat sheet each game and has been very impressive even getting 8 kills in the loss to Iona. If you see her play a game you will be very impressed. She has her patent jump set and is deadly accurate. When she tries to make a kill, she will use this jumper to her advantage and has the talent to put the ball EXACTLY where she wants it. Congrats!

Volleyball Returns Home

The students and parents filed in and sat in the cold vacant benches of Alumni Hall. A buzz drew over the crowd as the back and forth match reached its high point. The music of the band echoed in the hollowed walls of the dome. For the first time since last year the fans sat and watched a sporting event at Alumni Hall. The Fairfield University Volleyball Team competed in its first home game since November 15^th of last year. It has been 10 months and 10 days, but the dominant varsity team was back in action on Saturday. Head coach Ajila Pittinger enjoys playing on campus, "You got to love playing at Alumni, the place is awesome, the band is great, the fans are really loud and it really helps us." Over the past four years the Stags have marveled in home-court advantage going 50-1 against their conference opponents inside the confines of Alumni.

The Stags have won six-straight regular season crowns. The squad has tallied up 3 championships in their historic MAAC program. Since their first year, Fairfield has been a MAAC Volleyball powerhouse.

A big reason for their recent past success is their former middle blocker Katie Mann. She was one of the best players to ever put on a Fairfield volleyball uniform, ranking first all-time in blocks and hitting percentage while also ranking third all-time in kills. She became the Stag's Super-Mann. "She was definitely someone we looked to every time we needed a kill," Pittinger said. The third year head coach saw the superstar shine through her historic stay here but knows the program has to move on and needs a total team effort, "instead of being replaced by one person I think we're looking to everybody on the team."

The Stags have these pieces in place to improve on their heart-breaking upset at the hands of the Marist Red Foxes in last year's MAAC semifinals. Red shirted junior, Alex Lopez returns to the lineup in a different role this season. The former outside hitter suffered an injury that ended her season before it even started. Through her career she has been known as a perennial offensive option. She must now rely on her defense being the team's new libero. "She has always had great ball control," Pittinger said. The Colorado native is a former All-MAAC Second team selection and has amassed 375 kills in her four years. She is joined by two other new comers for the 2010 season, including fellow Rockies native, Rachel Romansky. The freshmen setter has enjoyed early success already placing sixth on the team in kills. Combine that with her 425 assists and the Stags might have found a promising four-year starter. With the impossible task of trying to replace the most successful middle blocker in school history is Hailey Moyer. The first year player has displayed some of the skills that show why she is starting so early into her collegiate career. "They've been a huge part of the team and I don't think you can ask for more," Pittinger said.

This is a new team with a different feel. They struggled early in the year falling to a 1-9 record before starting MAAC play. The goal of this team, that was picked to finish second in the MAAC, is to get better and continue to improve throughout the season. The thrilling win over Manhattan is a prime example, "I think earlier in the season I'm not sure we would have necessarily pulled out that fifth set," Pittinger said. They improved to a 4-0 conference record and have only dropped two total sets in those games. The coach believes that this team seems to develop more confidence when playing the familiar opponents. With the progressive play of this promising team, Saturday was the first chapter to a magical story at Alumni Hall.

Northern Colorado 3 Fairfield 0

The Fairfield Stags volleyball team (1-5) were shutout by the Northern Colorado Bears (5-2) during the first game of a volleyball double header. Click here for a complete recap and boxscore.

The Least You Should Know:

-Fairfield lost each set 25-17

- The Stags had their second straight game hitting under .100 only collecting a .074 percentage.

-No Stag had double digits in kills with Hayley Moyer and Haililani Pokipala leading the team with 8.

-Rachel Romansky bounced back to record 26 assists and 3 kills.

I am concerned about the little hitting percentage that the Stags had. Last night, I posted that the graduation of Katie Mann could have drastically affected the number of blocks that the team has had but also remember she was the all-time leader in hitting percentage.

Fairfield 3 South Dakota 1

The Fairfield Stags women's volleyball team (1-3) defeated the South Dakota Coyotes yesterday in the first game of the Northern Colorado Classic. This was the first meeting between the two in program history. Click here for a complete boxscore and recap

The Least You Should Know:

-Brianna Dixion lead the team with kills with 13. She has had double digit kills in every game this year.

-Rachel Romansky recorded her first career double-double with 41 assists and 11 digs.

-The Stags did commit 33 errors and only hit .102.

-Lauren Hughes has a season high 10 kills.

Well, we are finally in the win column even though I was pretty concerned with the amount of errors that we comitted. I still think in order for us to succeed Lauren Hughes needs to have a good season and she had a good game. Rachel Romanksy continues to impress and she is "very good."

Rachel Romansky named to all-Tournament Team

Stags freshmen Rachel Romansky has been named to the Colgate Classic All-Tournament Team after recording 91 assists and 14 kills her first 3 collegiate games.

Congrats to the first year player and hopefully this is only the beginning of good things to come. I was surprised that she got the starting nod over Lauren Balmert this season but she was ranked as one of the top 100 high school seniors.

Rhode Island 3 Fairfield 1

The Fairfield Stags (0-1) were defeated by the Rhode Island Rams (1-0) 3 sets to one in the opening game of the Colgate Classic. For the complete box score click here. The Stags are now 1-3 all-time aganist the Rams and 15-11 in season openers.

The Stags were absolutely dominated in the first set to put it very nicely. They were down as much as 10 when the score was 17-7. Romansky was the only Stag to play well with 2 kills and 3 assists without an error. Fellow freshmen Hayley Moyer had 3 errors in 3 attempts and as a team the Stags had 9 total.

Fairfield lost the fourth set 25-6! committing 9 errors and having about a 15 point losing streak. That is only the second time in 2 years the Stags could not score into the double digits in a set over the past two years. The other came September 5th against #7 Michigan where they only scored 9.

The only set they won came in the third set where they edged the Rams 25-23.

The Stags committed 32 errors in the afternoon game! Compared to Rhode Island's 12. Pokipala led the team with 11 of those errors followed by freshmen Hayley Moyer with 6. The Hawaii native had 129 errors last year the second worst on the team.

There were some good points. Brianna Dixion led the team with 15 kills (the 21st time in her career she finished with 10 or more) but the most important is that she only had 1 error!

Freshmen Rachel Romansky filled up the column today. She had 7 kills 25 assists and 7 digs!

The Stags will next play tonight at 7pm aganist the Syracuse Orange