The Stags win a conference-leading 11th women's tennis championship.
Sarah Liu won the clinching point at #1 singles for the Fairfield University women's tennis team to claim the 2024 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship in thrilling fashion over MAAC rival Quinnipiac this past Sunday, April 21. The top-seeded Stags picked up their conference-best 11th league crown.
Fairfield will enter the NCAA Championship with a record of 12-8. The Stags have won nine consecutive matches following a 3-8 start to the campaign. Fairfield will learn its NCAA Championship opponent and destination on Monday, April 29 when the field is announced at 6:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.
Liu's championship point was the capper of a back-and-forth affair from start to finish between the MAAC's top two squads. The Bobcats started on top with a win in doubles. Lily Malinowski and Francesca Karman held serve for the Stags with a victory at #2, but Quinnipiac took the first and third flights to gain the early advantage.
The Bobcats grew their lead to 2-0 with a win at #4 to open singles play, before Loeffler got the Stags on the board with a straight-set win at #3. Katarina Plumtree then finished off her match at #2 to knot the score at 2-2, and Maeve Cassidy completed a three-set victory at #6 to bring the Stags within one point of raising the trophy.
Quinnipiac pulled even one more time, snagging a nailbiter at #5 that featured a tiebreak in the first set and went to a decisive third frame. With the overall score knotted at 3-3, Liu fought back from a 3-6 loss in her opening set at #1 with a 6-2 equalizer. She earned an early break to take a 2-0 lead in the third set en route to a 6-4 win to clinch the MAAC Championship for the Stags.
"What a gritty group! They played so well and fought so hard all year, and I'm proud of them for coming through,” said Head Coach Jeff Bricker.
Cassidy was named Championship MVP after a 3-1 weekend. The rookie also won at #6 singles and teamed with Liu for a victory at #1 doubles in the Stags' semifinal win over Siena.
The win is the Fairfield Women's Tennis program's first MAAC Championship since 2019 and its 11th overall. It is the second MAAC Championship for Bricker — the 2024 MAAC Coach of the Year. The Stags also won the MAAC Regular Season Championship this spring for the first time since 2013.
