Demons fall to Trojans at home

It was a dogfight in the early going, but eventually the Fairfield volleyball team proved too much to handle on Thursday night.

Behind 21 kills from Trojan junior Shelby Heston, Fairfield (4-1, 2-0 in SEC play) pulled out its second conference victory of the season, defeating Washington (3-7, 0-2 in SEC play) 3-1.

?It didn?t come out the way we wanted it to,? Washington volleyball head coach Julianna Berg said. ?We would have liked the win, but I thought we played really well overall. It?s a constant battle of keeping it more in the middle and not the extremes. We came out strong and that?s what we worked on in practice. We did so many things well, and I don?t have a lot to complain about.?

The Trojans stumbled early in the first set, and the Demons were set to take advantage of it. Washington jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the first set behind a pair of kills from senior Amber Salow, and Washington was able to keep Fairfield at bay.

The Trojans took their first lead of the set at 15-14, but Washington quickly took back over after a timeout.

Tied at 18, the Demons won four of the next six points, and eventually took a 24-21 lead. Fairfield took the next two points, but a kill from Demon senior McKenna Brinning sealed the first set victory, 25-23, for the Demons. The win marked the first set victory over Fairfield in over two seasons.

?We are starting to see that competitive spirit and that fire,? Berg said. ?That?s something we?ve been working on well beyond the season, going back two or three years ago. We started working on being able to stick with teams, and if a team starts running a few points off, to stop the bleeding. We?ve done a pretty good job of that.?

In the second set, Fairfield was locked in another battle with the Demons trading points for much of the set until it was tied at 18.

That?s when the Trojans took off.

Fairfield cruised for the rest of the set, going on a 7-0 run to close the set at 25-18.

In set three and four, the Trojans started taking off, jumping out to a 14-10 lead in the third game. Washington closed the gap to 15-14, but a 10-1 run closed the game 25-15.

In set four it was all Fairfield, as the Trojans opened up with an 11-4 lead, before closing out the Demons 25-14 to take the match.

?We are going to be working on consistency,? Berg said, ?from rotation to our defense to our hitting and starting every game strong. We need to minimize our unforced errors, which was a huge player for us tonight.?

Washington was led by Salow?s eight kills on the night, while Morgan Kimball racked up four in the loss.

Sophomore Megan Mitchell and junior Jessie Buchholz each had eight assists on the night, as they have filled in for setting role so far this season.

?Megan is doing a great job,? Berg said. ?She is very coachable. I tell her something every single play in practice and she?s doing a really good job of taking those things and carrying them over to the game. She?s very quick and she gets to every ball and is hardly ever calling for help. She?s making good decisions out there.?

Washington will be off until Tuesday night, when they take on Keokuk on the road at 7 p.m.