NEW ROCHELLE, NY – The Iona College volleyball program extended its winning streak to six matches with a take own of the Fairfield Stags on Friday night. The Gaels bested the defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Champions in four sets (25-20, 25-22, 22-25, 25-14) at the Hynes Center.

Friday was also Iona's annual Dig Pink match in honor of breast cancer awareness. The Maroon & Gold gathered donations for breast cancer research throughout the match.

MATCH SUMMARY

Iona won the first set 25-20 behind a strong 71.4 sideout percentage. Senior Claire Archibald and sophomore Jamie Smith both had five kills. Senior Emma Rose began her evening with 15 assists in the first set while juniors Jessica Paolucci and Tess Connolly combined for 14 of Iona's 16 digs.

The second set had each team making mini-runs. Iona jumped out to a 14-11 lead but the Stags used a four-point spurt to tie the game at 16. The top two teams in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' poll traded points until Connolly came through with two crucial kills to give Iona a 21-19 edge. It'd hold on to take a 2-0 lead with a 25-22 decision.

Archibald had a match-best seven kills and Paolucci dug out a match-high 10 attempts in the second set. Both had an ace, along with Rose.

Fairfield came out of the intermission strong and forced two early Maroon & Gold timeouts in the third set. Leading by as many as six, the Stags had to withstand a Gaels run that brought the margin to just one, 19-18. Jamie Calandro served three straight points for the Stags and Laura Seeger put it away to force another game.

The Maroon & Gold had a monster .576 hitting percentage in the decisive fourth set. Archibald rebounded from a third set, in which she had no kills, with a strong conclusion of six kills on nine attempts. Freshman Cassandra Patsos concluded a sneaky great match with six kills in the fourth. The Stags had a match-low 10 kills in the fourth compared to the Gaels-high 20.

Paolucci dominated the fourth set from the service line. She served five straight points for Iona that pushed the lead from 17-12 to 22-12. Patsos ended the match with her 12^th kill of the match.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Friday night's win ended a six-game losing streak to the Stags. The last time Iona defeated Fairfield was on Sunday, Oct. 18 at the Hynes Center. The Gaels won in five sets (25-22,21-25,26-28,25-21,15-11) behind 20 kills from Archibald and eight blocks courtesy of Karly White.
• Fairfield's one service is tied for an Iona opponent-low this season. It matched that of Saint Francis (Pa.) (Aug. 25) and Quinnipiac (Sept. 22).
• Iona has now recorded more kills than its opponent in 11 straight matches. It has only failed to do so three times, all of which came in the first four matches of the season.
• The Gaels have had more assists than their opponents in 11 straight matches. It has only failed to do so twice against Eastern Illinois (Aug. 25) and Connecticut (Aug. 31).
• Paolucci had her second 30 dig effort of the season. Her first came in five sets against New Hampshire (Sept. 1).
• Patsos finished with a career-best 12 kills and 13.5 points against Fairfield. She had a match-best .611 hitting percentage; just one error on 18 attempts. It is her third 10 kill effort of the season.

UP NEXT

The Gaels are off on Saturday but return to action on Sunday, Oct. 14 against the Quinnipiac Bobcats at the Hynes Center. First serve is set for 1:00 p.m. and the game can be viewed on ESPN .

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