Sept. 20, 2002

Poughkeepsie, NY - The Marist College volleyball split two matches on the first day of the Marist College Volleyball Invitational, played at the McCann Center today. The Red Foxes opened the tournament with a 3-0(30-27, 30-25, 30-26) win over LaSalle, before dropping a hard fought 3-1 (30-26, 31-29, 13-30, 30-24) to the US Military Academy.

Aline dos Santos paced the Marist effort, recording a 12-kill, 12-dig double-double in the opening win over LaSalle, and putting up 20-digs and 16-kills in the match against Army. Rookie Megan Cochrane continued to play well as the Marist setter, recording 69 assists on the day, to go along with eight kills. Christina Brozek contributed 16 kills over the course of the two matches, while Jennafer Espie had 25 digs during the first day.

In other action on the first day of the Marist Invitational, Army defeated Hartford 3-1 (30-18, 31-29, 26-30, 32-30) to finish the day at 2-0. The University of Akron also finished the first day with a 2-0 mark, defeating LaSalle 3-0 (30-23, 30-27, 30-26) and Hartford 3-1 (30-19, 30-15, 26-30, 30-24). Hartford trailed 17-6 in the third set against the Zips before rallying to force a fourth game.

The Marist Invitational continues Saturday at the McCann Center beginning at 10:00 am when Army takes on LaSalle. Marist returns to action at noon, playing Hartford, and will be followed at 2:00 pm but a match between Akron and Army. The 4:00 pm contest will feature Hartford and LaSalle, and the final match of the tournament, slated to begin at 6:00 pm, will pit the Red Foxes against Akron.

Marist, with the win, improves to 4-9 on the year, surpassing the win total from a year ago, and equaling the total number of wins the program earned in the last two seasons combined. Akron improves to 7-3 on the year, while Army moves to 4-7 with the two wins. LaSalle drops to 6-7 on the season, while Hartford falls to 6-5.