HARTFORD, Conn. - Freshman Marisa Gilbert (Pflugerville, Texas) had 10 blocks to go along with six kills and Grace Hill (Portage, Mich.)had her third double-double effort of the season with 17 kills and 13 digs to help the Marist volleyball team to a five-set, 3-2 victory (25-15, 25-22, 25-27, 18-25, 15-8) over the Hartford Hawks. Senior Joanna Foss (Northville, Mich.) also had a double-double, her first of the season, with 15 kills and 11 digs.
"We had to show a little bit of perseverance and little bit of fight, which is good at this time of the year. We challenged [Hill and Foss] going into the fifth set and when they played well, we played well. They accounted for six of our seven kills in set five. They stepped up and performed at the level we need them to perform at," Head Coach Tom Hanna said.
In the first set, a kill by Hill stopped a 3-0 run by Hartford (2-2) and kick-started a five-point run for the Red Foxes (2-2) that included a block by Gilbert and Hanna Stoiberg (Thousand Oaks, Calif.), a Brooke Zywick (Garden City, Mich.) service ace and a kill by Gilbert to give Marist a 6-4 advantage. Overall, the Red Foxes scored 14 of the next 16 points to take a commanding 15-6 lead. Marist used three service aces in the set, and had a .304 hitting percentage while holding the Hawks to -.057.
After Hartford jumped out to a 8-5 lead in the second set, forcing a Marist timeout, the Red Foxes responded with a 4-1 run to tie the score at nine. Two points by the Hawks stopped the streak, but Marist went on another run, scoring seven of the next nine, to take a 17-13 lead. Highlighted in the stretch were kills by Foss, Hill and Gilbert. The two teams would play back and forth the rest of the set, with the Red Foxes always maintaining at least a one-point lead. After another Foss kill gave Marist a 23-21 advantage, two errors by Hartford, surrounded by a Michelle Cordell kill, gave the Red Foxes the set win. For the second straight set, Marist held the Hawks to a negative hitting percentage at -.025.
The third set remained in a deadlock until Hartford took a 12-9 lead with a three-point run. Kills by Hill, Stoiberg, Foss and Leeann Harridsleff (Simi Valley, Calif.) helped to knot the score again at 18. The teams again played deadlocked until back-to-back kills by Hartford's Kami Nethersole provided the final margin of 27-25. Hill had six kills for the Red Foxes in the set.
The tight-scoring trend continued at the start of the fourth set when a kill by Foss brought the Red Foxes within one at 6-5. That is the closest Marist would get however as Hartford would build their lead up to seven at 18-11. Another Foss kill brought the score to 20-15, but the Red Foxes would get no closer as the Hawks took the set 25-18. Nethersole and her sister Sareeta each had four kills in the set.
The Red Foxes bounced back in a big way in the fifth set, led by three kills each by Hill and Foss, Marist jumped out to a 7-3 lead at the midway point of the set. After a Hartford attacking error, a service ace by Stoiberg and a kill by Harridsleff brought the Red Foxes' lead to 10-4. After a kill by Kami Nethersole cut the lead to 14-8, Hill finished off the set with her team-high 17th of the match, and sealed the win.
Stoiberg had 31 assists to go along with 12 digs and eight blocks. Gilbert had 10 blocks, Audra Brady (Allentown, Pa.) had 14 and assists and Zywick contributed 22 digs.
The 10 blocks by Gilbert was the second highest performance by a Red Fox and the highest output since 2000. "Marisa with 10 block assists was huge. We struggled for the past five years as a blocking team and we are very good at the net right now, and if we can continue that going into this weekend that will be very important for us," Hanna said.
The Red Foxes will head out west for their next three matches at the Sacramento State Invitational this weekend. They open up with a match against Cal State Northridge Friday night at 8, then play two matches on Saturday versus host Sacramento State at 3:30 p.m. and Fresno State at 8 p.m.
