DAVIDSON, North Carolina – The Red Foxes opened up the season with a win against William & Mary at the Wildcat Classic. Marist started slow but came back from 0-2 to take the match 3-2.
 

SUMMARY

The Red Foxes started slow during the first set, falling behind 5-0 early on and never recovered, falling 25-14. The offense struggled to get anything going, earning eight of their points from William & Mary errors.
 
Marist started to brush the rust off in the second set and played its most competitive set of the series. The Red Foxes held a 24-21 lead and need one more point to seal the set, but William & Mary scored four unanswered points, forcing the teams to go up by two to win. Kills from Lauren Waide and Sarah Austin would give Marist a one-point lead but William & Mary ultimately came away with the set win 34-32.
 
The offense hit its stride in the third set, playing with higher intensity for a 25-18 win. Nikki DeSerpa shined with four kills and a service ace and the end of the set was highlighted by three consecutive kills from Waide.
 
The Red Foxes took the momentum from the third set into the fourth, starting with a 7-2 advantage. William and Mary would come back to equalize the score, but a kill from Sarah Austin would spark the offense and lead to a 25-20 win.
 
Marist had the advantage throughout the fifth set with DeSerpa and Waide each tallying three kills for the 15-10 set win and to take the match.
 
 

STATS

• Nikki DeSerpa had a match high 17 kills. Megan Fergus and Sarah Austin each had double-digit kills with 10. Austin's was a career high.
• In her first career game, Morgan Owens tallied nine assists and 14 digs.
• The Red Foxes had a strong presence at the front of the net, finishing with 11 blocks compared to William and Mary's seven. Stephanie Stone had a hand in six of them.
• Taylor VanDerBiezen finished with a match high 36 assists

 

UP NEXT

Marist is back in action tomorrow, facing Davidson College at 12:00 PM and University of Central Arkansas at 4:00 PM.