QU Volleyball Fights To The End, But Falls To Top-Seed Fairfield In MAAC Finals

Sunday, November 20

Fairfield, CT

2:00 PM

Quinnipiac University

21-13

Fairfield University

28-5

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Quinnipiac	18	15	23	0
Fairfield	25	25	25	3

QU Volleyball Fights To The End, But Falls To Top-Seed Fairfield In MAAC Finals

11/20/2016 4:24:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

By: QU Sports Information

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The top-seeded Fairfield volleyball team held off one final furious Quinnipiac rally to cap off a perfect conference season as it defeated the Bobcats 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-23) in the MAAC Championship match on Sunday afternoon at George Bisacca Court at Alumni Hall.

Quinnipiac fought off four match points to come within one point of tying the third set, before Fairfield's Megan Theiller put down the final swing to clinch a 25-23 third-set win and a 3-0 win in the match. The Stags are now 28-5 overall and clinch their second straight NCAA bid, after going 18-0 in league play in the regular season and winning both MAAC Tournament matches on its home floor, extending their win streak against conference foes to 31. Quinnipiac sees its historic season end with a 21-13 record, beating last season's win total by 18 (3-28).

The Bobcats fought right down to the end, closing from within 24-19 in the third to 24-23, one point away from tying. A solo block from sophomore Jen Coffey (Merrimack, N.H.) made it 24-21, and two straight Stag errors trying to beat Quinnipiac blocks brought the deficit down to one. After a Fairfield timeout, the Bobcats dug out four attacks, including two clutch digs from freshman outside hitter Natalie Alechko (Old Tappan, N.J.) on big swings from the Stags, before Theiller beat a two-man Quinnipiac block and grounded a kill inside the baseline for a 25-23 win.

Slow starts doomed the Bobcats in each of the first two sets. Fairfield rushed out to a 10-2 lead in the first set, forcing Quinnipiac to use both timeouts early. The Bobcats chipped away and got as close as 18-15 on a block from senior Allison Leigh (Palmer, Alaska) and sophomore Kat Miller (Collegeville, Pa.), but after an exchange of points, Fairfield went on a 4-0 run to take a 23-16 lead and captured the set 25-18.

The second set followed the same formula, as Quinnipiac called timeouts after falling behind 7-1 and 9-2. The Bobcats quickly clawed back in it, pulling within three points twice at 10-7 and 11-8, but an 8-0 Stags run stretched their lead up to a commanding 19-8 and they were able to take a 2-0 lead into the break by finishing off the set 25-15.

The third set saw Quinnipiac stay closer early, as Miller had two straight kills to close the Fairfield lead to 7-6, the second which was set up after the 1000th dig in the career of senior defensive specialist Cody Michaels (Versailles, Ky. - pictured), who finished with 1,004 by match's end. She is only the third player in Quinnipiac's Division I history to reach the 1000-dig mark in a career.

The Stags, though, answered with a 6-0 run to take a 13-6 lead and held a 15-8 advantage before Leigh caught fire with three kills and block to get the Bobcats back within 18-16. Another 4-0 Fairfield run pushed the lead back to 22-16 and had the Stags poised to run away with the final set before the Bobcats came roaring back in one last stand to keep the match and their season alive.

Miller finished with 11 kills to lead the Bobcats, while earning a spot on the All-Tournament team, while Leigh had 10 kills and seven blocks, ending her senior year with a Quinnipiac Division I record 184 blocks, breaking the old record by 39. Freshman setter Maria Pansari (Whitehouse Station, N.J.) was also named to the All-Tournament team and had 31 assists to finish with a Quinnipiac record (all divisions) of 1,358 this year, including 131 in the three MAAC Tournament matches.

"I'm so proud of everybody," said Michaels. "We gave it everything we had, right up until the very end. It's all that you could ask for. The work that every single person put in on this team, the running and the difficult days, it's all been worth it. I know it's sad today, but it's all worth it."

The loss ends what has been a remarkable breakthrough season for the Bobcats, who were a combined 33-271 over the last 10 seasons coming into this year, with a high-water mark of six wins in that span. This year, they earned 21 victories, more than doubling the program record for most wins as full Division I members (10, set in 2000 and matched in 2002) and advanced to their first ever Division I conference championship match.

Next year, the Bobcats will try to keep the momentum going after graduating seven seniors: Leigh, Michaels, Jana Kmec (Stratford, Conn.), Jamie Paolucci (Lake Mary, Fla.), Emma Ogden (Crown Point, Ind.), Katie Urycki (Chesteron, Ind.) and Sam Alechko (Old Tappan, N.J.).