Box Score FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Up two sets to one and ahead 11-3 in the fourth set, the Sacred Heart volleyball team fell victim to a Fairfield comeback on Friday night at Alumni Hall. The last non conference match of the season for SHU, the Pioneers will head into the second half of Northeast Conference play atop the league standings at 6-1, and 12-9 overall.
Sacred Heart did have a three point lead of its own in the fifth, jumping out to 6-3 advantage on a kill by
Tori Kemper, but Fairfield (11-9, 6-4 MAAC) scored four of the next five to take an 8-7 lead of its own. The two teams traded points until it was tied 10-10 before the Stags would appear to take control with two consecutive points making it 12-10. The Pioneers would battle back though, tying it back up at 12 on a
Karly Shockey kill and Stag error. Fairfield responded with a kill form Megan O'Sullivan's and would hold on for the win thanks to back-to-back SHU errors.
The match was sent to a decisive fifth set thanks to Fairfield scoring 22 of the final 30 points in the fourth after Sacred Heart had jumped out to an 11-3 advantage. The stretch included four separate runs of four unanswered, including when it was tied at 16, as well as the final four points of the set.
Sacred Heart had its second lowest hitting percentage of the year, .124, in large part due to its second highest error total, 33. Fairfield on the other hand hit .190, and was dominant at the net with 15 blocks to SHU's nine.
Katie Direnzo and Allison Riggs were Sacred Heart's most efficient hitters on the night, hitting .444 and .333, respectively. Direnzo was one of four Pioneers in double digit kills with ten, while Riggs added six. Direnzo also added a career-high six block assists.
Sarah Krufka and Kemper led SHU with 12 kills each, with Lila Palmer adding a season-high 11, the second highest total of her career. Palmer also added 11 digs for her first double double of the year.
Kiki Robinson posted her seventh double double, leading Sacred Heart with 23 assists and 15 digs. Seeing extended for the first time in her career, freshman Cassie Lew contributed 19 assists and six digs.
Skyler Day posted a match-high 19 kills, while Taylor Rudden and Sydney Buckley led all players with 21 digs and 44 assists, respectively.
The first place Pioneers return to NEC action on Sunday with a 1 pm match at Fairleigh Dickinson.
How it Happened
- First Set – Tied for an eighth time at 18, a Palmer kill sparked a run of four straight SHU points. Krufka followed that with back-to-back kills of her own before a Gonzalez ace matched the Pioneers' largest lead, 21-17. Fairfield would close to within two, 22-20, with three of the next four points, but once again it was a Palmer kill that ended any type of momentum as Sacred Heart would pull away for a 25-21 first set win.
- Second Set – Trailing 11-10, Sacred Heart took control with four points in a row and would never look back. The two teams would however trade the next four points, as Fairfield would get as close as two, 16-14, before Palmer registered successive kills and the Stags would get no closer than three points the remainder of the set.
- Third Set – Fairfield answered an 8-3 Sacred Heart run, that put the Pioneers ahead 8-5, with a 12-4 surge of their own. The Stags capitalized on the four attack errors and two ball handling errors from the Pioneers, while Day tallied three kills in the stretch that gave Fairfield a 17-12 advantage.
