Box Score POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Grace Hill (Kalamazoo, Mich.) had a team-high 11 kills, leading the Marist volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 26-24) victory over Iona in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) match at McCann Arena on Sunday afternoon. The win, which ended a two-match losing streak for the Red Foxes, was the 100th career victory for head coach Tom Hanna.
Courtney Shaw (Centennial, Colo.) had nine kills, hitting .304 for the match, to go along with three blocks. Kelsey Lahey (Bowling Green, Ohio) and Mackenzie Stephens (Holland, Mich.) each had seven kills and Marisa Gilbert (Pflugerville, Texas) had five kills to go along with a match-high four blocks. Audra Brady (Allentown, Pa.) had her third straight double-double, and fourth in five matches, with 32 assists and 11 digs. Brooke Zywick (Garden City, Mich.) led Marist with 14 digs while Becca Jones (Arlington, Va.) and Gena Russo (Rensselaer, N.Y.) had nine and eight, respectively.
Marist (7-5, 1-1 MAAC) wasted no time in the first set, jumping out to a quick 6-2 lead. Stephens, Lahey and Hill all had a kill to lead the early run and Jones added a service ace. Still leading by four at 9-5, the Red Foxes used a 5-1 run to extend their lead to eight at 14-6. Shaw and Gilbert started the run with a block and Lahey, Shaw and Stephens all contributed kills. Iona (1-10, 0-2 MAAC) could not close to within four the rest of the way as Marist took the opening set 25-18. Lahey had four kills to lead the Red Foxes offensive attack in the opening set.
The momentum carried over into the second set for the Red Foxes as they jumped out to an early 4-1 lead behind two kills from Stephens. After the Gaels cut the lead to two, Marist went on a 3-0 run, on another Stephens' kill and two Iona errors, to take an 11-6 lead. The advantage was still four when another 6-1 run by the Red Foxes extended the lead to 20-11. Hill had two kills in the run and Shaw and Gilbert each added one of their own. Back-to-back kills by Shaw and Lahey ended the set 25-16 and gave Marist a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. Hill led all players in the second set with six kills and Stephens and Shaw each added two.
Iona scored the first point of the third set to take its first lead of the match, but the Red Foxes scored four straight points to jump out to a 4-1 lead on kills by Shaw and Stephens and an ace by freshman Lexi Millington (Manhattan Beach, Calif.). The Gaels used an 8-2 run to eliminate a four-point Marist lead and go ahead 17-15. A block from Gilbert and Hill and a Gilbert kill helped the Red Foxes come back and jump ahead 18-17. Following three straight Iona points, Marist answered with a 3-0 run of its own, on two Iona errors and a solo block by Gilbert, to take a 21-20 lead. Both team traded points and the Gaels fought off a match point to tie the score at 24. Shaw and Lahey again hit back-to-back kills to end the set and give the Red Foxes the 3-0 victory. Hill and Shaw each had three kills in the final set and Zywick came up big defensively with nine digs.
The Red Foxes hit the road for six straight matches. Next weekend they will make the annual trip to Buffalo for matches against Canisius and Niagara. Marist's next home match will Saturday, Oct. 19 against Fairfield.
Notes – Zywick, who reached 1,000 career digs in Saturday's match, surpassed Joanna Foss (2012) for the third most digs in Marist history. She currently has 1,025 in her career.
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