POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – The Marist volleyball team (11-11, 8-3 MAAC) will conclude its five-match home stand when it hosts Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference foes Rider and Saint Peter's on Oct. 28 and 29 respectively.
 
Both matches are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. in McCann Arena. Live stats will be available and there will be a free live video stream of each match on the Red Fox Network.
 
Saturday afternoon's match against Rider will be Faculty & Staff Appreciation Day. Each of the Red Foxes have invited a faculty or staff member who works on campus to attend the match. Marist will also host a pregame Open House and Luncheon for the Red Foxes' faculty and staff guests beginning at 12 p.m. in the Center for Student-Athlete Enhancement.
 
POSTSEASON SCENARIO
 
Marist will clinch a spot in this year's MAAC Championships with wins over the Broncs and Peacocks this weekend and a Quinnipiac loss to Fairfield on Friday, October 27. Marist is currently third in the MAAC standings behind Niagara (13-7, 9-2 MAAC) and Fairfield (16-6, 11-0 MAAC) respectively. Beginning this weekend four of Marist's final seven regular season matches will take place in McCann Arena.

SATURDAY BLOCK PARTY
 
The Red Foxes have won five of their last six matches and are outnumbering their opponents 48-28 in total blocks during that span. Sophomore Stephanie Stone (1.06) and senior Ashton Korona (0.97) have put on a clinic as the top two middle blockers in the MAAC in blocks per set. Sophomore Megan Fergus has also jumped for 56 blocks this season.
 
As a team Marist averages 2.02 blocks per set for most in the conference while Rider is third in the MAAC averaging 1.77 blocks per set.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
 
Sophomore Nikki DeSerpa led Marist by hammering 13 kills in its last match against Siena on Oct. 20. Junior Taylor van der Biezen registered a match high 32 assists in the 3-1 victory over the Saints.
 
With 215 kills this season senior Kelsey Ediger is second among Red Foxes. She has posted double-digit kills in five of Marist's 11 MAAC contests in 2017.

SCOUTING REPORTS
 
Rider Broncs 
 
Rider (13-11, 7-5 MAAC) is 3-1 in its last four matches and took down Canisius in four sets in its most recent outing Oct. 22. The Broncs have played strong as of late, as they lead the MAAC in hitting percentage (.197) and are third in opponent hitting percentage (.173).
 
Senior setter Veronica Koval has been a key contributor, averaging 9.25 assists per set for second in the conference.
 
Saint Peter's Peacocks

The Peacocks (0-23, 0-12 MAAC) will play their third match of the week against Marist as they fell to NJIT on Oct. 24 and will face off against Siena on Saturday. As a team Saint Peter's is fourth in the MAAC in service aces per set (1.44) and fifth in digs per set (13.45).
 
Junior Alexus Sharp currently leads the Peacocks with 143 kills, while freshman Karla Seda's 214 digs (2.97 per set) put her first among her teammates.
  
LOOKING AHEAD

The Red Foxes will take on Fairfield in a midweek MAAC match. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. Nov. 1 on George Bisacca Court at Alumni Hall, the home of this year's conference championships.