Jaspers Face Fairfield In First Round Of MAAC Tourney

Lake Buena Vista, FL - Ninth-seed Manhattan volleyball takes on #4 Fairfield Thursday, November 15 in the first round of the 2018 MAAC Championship, hosted this year at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista, FL. First serve is set for 12:30 p.m. 

Match Notes:

• Manhattan finished the 2018 season 5-26 overall and 3-15 in the league for the ninth-place seed. Fourth-place Fairfield finished out 12-15 for the year and 11-7 in the MAAC.
• The Jaspers fell to Fairfield twice in the regular season, both times in three-straight sets. In the first match on September 22, freshman hitter Vivian Donovan (Newport Beach, CA / Newport Harbor) scored a team-high 10.5 points for the Jaspers, with seven kills and three service aces. In match two, freshman Julia Menocal (Bronx, NY / Preston) paced Manhattan with a team-high six kills. 
• Manhattan has earned all five of its wins since October 7, when the team swept Siena for the Jaspers' first victory of the season. Since then, Manhattan has defeated NJIT, St. Francis Brooklyn, Quinnipiac, and Marist. 
• In their final match of the season, the Jaspers beat Marist in five sets, winning the fifth behind Sandra Lozanova (Pernik, Bulgaria / Fresno State) who served three-straight aces for the victory. She had nine total aces in the match. Marist earned a fifth-place seed in the MAAC Championship. 
• As a rookie, Donovan leads Manhattan this season with 2.27 kills per set. Sophomore Erin Hoener (St. Louis, MO / Incarate Word) leads the Jaspers in hitting percentage at .239 on the year. 
• After her nine-aces match this past Sunday, Lozanova tops the MAAC in aces per set this season, and also ranks fifth in NCAA Division I. 
• With 83 total blocks on the year, Hoener ranks first on the team and ninth in the MAAC in blocks per set (0.79). 
• The Stags finished the regular season ranked third in the league in kills per set (12.63). The reigning MAAC champions are also third in blocks per set at 1.78 and second in digs per set at 16.17.
• Fairfield's Mayda Garcia ranks third in the MAAC for kills per set (3.54). Teammate Luci Albertson ranks fourth in blocks per set (0.87). 
• The Jaspers will need to win four matches to secure a MAAC Championship. The championship match will be played Saturday, November 17 at 3:00 p.m.