College Volleyball
Fairfield University 3, Rider University 0
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Match
LAWRENCEVILLE?If you save the best for last as the saying goes, senior Katrina Stehle can't wait for her the match on Saturday. Playing in her next to last match in Alumni Gym, Stehle put on quite a show but it wasn't enough as first-place Fairfield defeated Rider in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference match Thursday night. “I though Katrina had a great match,” said head coach Emily Ahlquist.
Fairfield (19-10, 16-1 MAAC) won in three games 30-26, 30-20, 31-29.
For Rider (2-25, 0-17 MAAC), Stehle (Greensburg, Pa./Hempfield) had a ?double-double' with 11 kills and 11 digs while chipping in five service aces, two blocks and a .476 attack percentage.
“Katrina played a very well rounded match, from point one to point 90,” Ahlquist said. “She just picked up the whole team with her performance.”
“I am very proud that we battled back after a slow start tonight,” said Stehle who now has 12 ?double-doubles' in her career. “The third game, especially was great and a lot of fun. Fairfield is a tough team but they are fun to play. They have a lot of good players.”
Rider battled the Stags point for point in game three, losing by two in a game that featured 14 ties and three lead changes.
Also for the Broncs, junior Lacey Johnson (Aurora, Colo./Grandview) had a team-leading 12 digs and seven kills with freshman Katelyn Thompson (Tucson, Ariz./Catalina Foothills) adding 12 kills.
Elyse Grassmuck (Seguin, Texas/La Vernia) had 32 assists for Rider.
“Fairfield makes you make mistakes,” Ahlquist said. “They don't make a lot of errors, they attack the open areas and they make very few mental errors. We make just a few more mental errors on our part and that was the difference. We competed hard against a very good Fairfield team.”
The Stags hit .280 for the match.
“We seem to bring a little more when we are playing the higher ranked teams in the conference,” said Stehle. “It is exciting that we have battled and showed that we can compete with the teams in our conference. We traded points a lot tonight but then we let Fairfield go on little runs and then we would trade points again and we couldn't really get on too many runs of our own. We need to learn going into next season how to stop the momentum of the other team and go on runs of our own. That is going to be the key part.”
Fairfield also defeated Rider 3-0 on September 28 and the Stags own a 12-4 series lead. Rider last defeated Fairfield during Stehle's freshman season 3-2 in 2004.
The Broncs conclude the 2007 season hosting a MAAC match against Loyola on Saturday at 2:00pm. Stehle will be honored prior to the game as part of senior day festivities.
“I'm excited about Saturday,” Stehle added. “Loyola is a big conference rival and I'm excited with the way we ended today's match and that we can carry that effort over into Saturday.”
Here's to Stehle, saving the best for last.
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