Final Stats

It was déjà vu all over again for the Siena volleyball team Wednesday night in the ARC. The Saints came out sharp in a dominant 25-19 first set win over archrival Fairfield, but momentum swung sharply in the second set just as it did in Saturday's loss to Marist, and the Stags rolled to a 3-1 (19-25, 25-15, 25-16 and 25-20) win to take over second place in the MAAC.

Caitlin Stapleton dominated late for Fairfield, finishing with a team-high 16 kills on the right side. The Stags also assumed control of a potential head-to-head tiebreaker with Siena due to point differential. The Saints won in four sets at Fairfield earlier this month.

Siena's leading attacker Meghann Wright was limited to the back row (back), meaning the Saints had to play with different rotations than they are accustomed to.

Rachel Stoklosa produced with a match-high 17 kills on the outside and fellow captain Jacqueline Skeen and Samantha Pethokoukis combined for 20 kills in the middle, but the Saints were done in by 24 attack errors.

Freshman Megan Theiller had a double-double with 14 kills and 10 digs for the Stags, contributing four kills in each of the last three sets.

The Stags raced to an 8-2 lead in the second set after Siena had controlled the first and never looked back. They scored five of the first six points in each of the last two sets. Siena showed life in the final set, rallying twice to within three points after falling behind by seven.

Fairfield controlled a 59-49 edge in kills, an 11-5 advantage in blocks and a 62-57 advantage in digs. Siena libero Bobbi Lin Kalama and Fairfield setter Carsen Mata each had 16 digs. Haley Howell assisted on 46 of Siena's kills, Mata had 43 assists for the Stags.

Siena will look to get back on track when it closes out its home season this weekend against Manhattan and Iona.