Fairfield Faces No. 6 Texas in First Round of 2017 NCAA Volleyball Championship
Fairfield University vs. No. 6 University of Texas
2017 NCAA Volleyball Championship First Round
Friday, December 1 | 8 p.m. (ET)
Austin, TX | Gregory Gymnasium
Conference Notes
Longhorn Network (WatchESPN) – *Subscription Required*
Live Stats
NCAA Bracket
AUSTIN, TX – The 2017 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Volleyball Champions, Fairfield University (25-6) faces No. 6 seed and No. 2 nationally ranked University of Texas (24-2) in the First Round of the NCAA Volleyball Championship. The opening round matchup is slated for Friday, December 1, at 8 p.m. (ET) in Austin, TX.
The Streak: Fairfield enters the 2017 NCAA Volleyball Championship on a 21-match winning streak and winners of 51-straight matches against conference opponents, the longest such streak in the nation.
The Perfect 10: The Stags have claimed a MAAC Record 10 Volleyball Championships, Siena College has won the next most with nine. Since 2012, Fairfield has won five of the last six MAAC Championships. Since 1990, Fairfield has appeared in a conference-high 18 Championship finals. The Stags are the first MAAC volleyball program to win three-straight championships since Niagara University (2009-2011). It is the second time in program history that the Stags have won at least three championships in a row (won five-straight, 1997-2001).
MAAC Postseason History: MAAC Volleyball programs are a combined (0-20) in NCAA Tournament matches and (1-2) all-time in NCAA play-in matches. Siena claimed the league's lone win in a play-in match with a (3-1) win over Colgate in 1995.
Fairfield MAAC Championship Recap:
No. 1 Fairfield University – 3 | No. 3 Iona College – 0 | (25-14, 25-19, 25-11)
Fairfield defeated Iona in straight-sets to claim its third consecutive MAAC Volleyball Championship and 10th in program history. The 10 MAAC Volleyball Championships are the most in conference history. The Stags earn the league’s automatic bid into the 2017 NCAA Volleyball Championship. 2017 MAAC Volleyball Player of the Year, senior outside hitter Skyler Day was named the Championship MVP. Day hit .367, tallied 14 kills, and nine digs in the Championship final. 2017 MAAC Setter of the Year, sophomore Manuela Nicolini and freshman middle blocker Luci Albertson were named to the All-Championship Team. Nicolini dished out 37 assists and six blocks in the final. Albertson added five kills and four blocks. The Stags have won in straight-sets, 16 times this season. Fairfield has won 12 of its last 13 matches in straight-sets, including six in a row.
Semifinals Recap:
No. 1 Fairfield University – 3 | No. 4 Marist College – 0 | (25-22, 25-22, 25-15)
Fairfield defeated Marist, in straight-sets to advance to its third-straight MAAC Volleyball Championship match. The victory marked the Stags’ 50
th in a row against a conference opponent (including postseason and non-conference meetings), a new MAAC volleyball record. Fairfield, broke its previous mark of 49-straight (1997-01). The current mark is the longest active streak against conference opponents in the nation. The Stags return to the MAAC Volleyball Championship match for the 11th time in the last 14 years. Over that span, Fairfield has claimed four MAAC Championships. Fairfield earned its 20th-straight win, a streak that dates to September 12.
Regular Season Champions: Fairfield University claimed its third-straight MAAC Volleyball Regular Season Championship and 17
th in program history on Wednesday, November 8, with a 3-0 defeat of Siena. As the MAAC Regular Season Champion, the Stags earned the No. 1 overall seed in the championship and received a first round bye.
About the 2017 NCAA Volleyball Championship:
The NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball committee announced the 64-team field that will compete in the 2017 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship. Thirty-two conferences were awarded an automatic qualification, while the remaining 32 positions were filled with at-large selections to complete the bracket.
The top 16 teams were seeded nationally and placed within four regions. Pennsylvania State University, earned the top seed followed by No. 2 University of Florida, the defending national champion Stanford University earned the third seed, while the University of Kentucky rounded out the top four.
Per the established bracketing principles, the top 16 seeds were provided the opportunity to host. Additionally, team pairings were determined by geographic proximity, with the exception that teams from the same conference were not paired during the first- and second-rounds.
About the 2017 MAAC Volleyball Championship:
The 2017 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Volleyball Championship took place, November 17-19, and returned to George Bisacca Court at Alumni Hall on the campus of Fairfield University for the second year in a row. For more information on the 2017 MAAC Volleyball Championship, visit maacsports.com/vb and follow the action on social media by using #MAACVB.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) is in its 37
th year of competition during the 2017-18 academic year. Current Conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter's University, and Siena College.