Sept. 28, 2008

Final Stats

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Marist volleyball team showed its resiliency on Sunday night at the McCann Center, coming back from two sets down to Saint Peter's to force a fifth set. The Peahens outhit the Red Foxes .312-.217 in the deciding set to win the match 3-2 (25-17, 25-22, 23-25, 22-25, 15-12). The match was Marist's fifth straight five-set match and its third straight loss.

The Red Foxes got a lift from their bench in their wins in the third and fourth set from sophomore Raeanna Gutkowski (Long Valley, N.J.) and freshman Alexandra Schultze (Austin, Texas) had a double-double of 17 kills and 11 digs.

Saint Peter's (6-9, 2-2 MAAC) dominated the opening set, hitting .375 with only two errors. The Peahens jumped out to a 9-5 lead and grew the lead to seven at 18-11 with a kill from Kate McFadden. Marist only mustered a .128 hitting percentage in the first set as Saint Peter's took the set 25-17. The Peahens continued their hot hitting in the second set with a 15-6 lead. Marist battled to get within two at 22-20 with a Gutkowski kill, but the Peahens hit .281 in the second and won the set 25-22 to go ahead 2-0.

Marist (6-11, 1-3 MAAC) needed a win in the third set to stay alive in the match. The Red Foxes took a 9-4 lead early in the set highlighted by kills from Harridsleff and Gutkowski. The lead grew to seven at 14-7 with another kill from Gutkowski. Saint Peter's gradually cut into Marist's lead, eventually getting within one at 16-15 with a Kim Mendoza kill. The Red Foxes got the lead back up to four at 19-15 with kills from Schultze and Gutkowski. The Peahens answered with four straight points to tie the set at 19-19. Marist won the set 25-23 on Gutkowski's fifth kill of the set.

The Red Foxes kept putting the pressure on Saint Peter's in the fourth set. Marist hit a match-high .261 in the fourth set with 18 kills. Trailing 16-14, the Red Foxes battled to a 20-20 tie with three kills from Gutkowski with Schultze and Lindsey Schmid (Austin, Texas) also putting down kills. With the match tied at 22-22, Marist ran off three straight points on kills from Gutkowski and Kayla Burton (Kissimmee, Fla.) to win the set 25-22 and tie the match at two sets each.

Marist and Saint Peter's traded points to start the deciding fifth set. Saint Peter's took the lead at 5-4 with a kill by Kelly Blanchfield. The Peahens led the whole way from there, growing the lead to three at 11-8 with a Mendoza kill. Marist closed to within two at 13-11 with kills by Harridsleff and Gutkowski. Saint Peter's proved to be too much in the set, as Mendoza ended the match with her 14th kill to end the set 15-12 and win the set 3-2.

Saint Peter's attack was led by Stephanie Phillips' 16 kills. Mendoza also had 21 digs to go with her 14 kills. Libero Katherine Sura led all players with 22 digs. Blanchfield led all players with nine blocks as Saint Peter's led Marist in blocks 12-2. For the match, Saint Peter's outhit Marist .240-.169. The Peahens also held an 82-77 advantage in digs.

Marist goes on the road next weekend for a pair of conference matches. The Red Foxes will next play Manhattan on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 12 p.m.