NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. - The Niagara volleyball team collected its sixth straight win with a 3-2 (23-25, 25-17, 26-24, 22-25, 15-9) victory over the Fairfield Stags on Sunday afternoon. The Purple Eagles now sit atop of the MAAC standings after sweeping their third-straight conference weekend with a 7-1 mark.

Niagara (12-8, 7-1 MAAC) had to battle through five sets to pick up its first win over Fairfield (6-13, 5-3 MAAC) in the last 21 matches; the last  Purple Eagles win over the Stags was during the 1995 season.

The Purple Eagles defense once again came up big in the match, especially in the fifth set. NU had three of its 11 blocks, which tied a season-high, in the final set. Amanda Wilken had back-to-back blocks to give NU an 8-5 and assisted Ellen Senf for another block to increase the Purple Eagles lead to 11-7 and effectively stopping any Stags momentum.

The Purple Eagles had their 15-set win streak snapped when they dropped the first set, 25-23. NU rebounded by taking the second set 25-17, which included a 7-1 run. Niagara edged Fairfield in the third set, 26-24, after forcing consecutive errors to win the set. The Stags had a match-high .429 attacking percentage to claim the fourth set, 25-22, to force the fifth and final set.

Niagara’s winning streak now sits at six games, two behind its program best of eight matches which was set last year and was ended by Fairfield. Today's win was also the Purple Eagles' first in five sets.

Wilken led the Purple Eagles with 11 kills and had four blocks. Kathy Bibler led the match with a .292 attacking percentage and had nine kills, along with Hannah Hedrick who also pulled in 15 digs. Rebecca Suchy had 14 digs and Sam Morgan brought her double-digit digs streak to 82 matches with a match-high 23 digs.

Niagara's next match will be on the road at Loyola on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 2 p.m.