POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – Marist picked up its first sweep of the season, winning all three of its sets 25-21. The Red Foxes are 2-0 in conference play and 5-7 overall.
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Taylor van der Biezen started set one hot, landing three service aces in a row and a kill to take a 6-1 lead. Marist used this early momentum to take the set win.
Chidera Udeh paced the Red Foxes early with five kills in the set.
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Niagara took a 7-4 lead to start set two with six of its seven points coming from kills or blocks. The Red Foxes went on a 4-0 run highlighted by consecutive kills from
Nikki DeSerpa to reclaim the lead. Marist widened its lead 23-16, finishing the set with 17 kills and held Niagara to just seven. A couple of unforced Red Fox errors would keep Niagara in the set but
Sarah Austin closed the door with a kill.
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DeSerpa landed three points to give Marist a 4-1 lead in set three. Niagara responded, using a 5-0 run to take a 7-6 lead. The Purple Eagles would not hold onto the lead for long as van der Biezen landed a pair of service aces and helped rally the Red Foxes to their largest lead of the set a 17-10. Niagara strong together a couple of kills but it was too little too late and Marist picked up the match win.
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- Marist finished the day with 12 service aces, seven coming from van der Biezen.
- Three players reached double-digit kills. Sarah Austin led with 14 while Udeh and DeSerpa had 12.
- Udeh had a match high .526 hitting percentage.
- Van der Biezen had a match high 40 assists and finished with 10 digs for a double-double
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- Van der Biezen's seven service aces is a new career high and is tied for fourth most in a single match.
- Courtney Kasperski's 17 digs sets a new career high.
- Austin had her second career double-double, finishing with 12 digs.
- This was the first 3-0 win of the season.
"We're just starting to refine some little things and now we're starting to see a little more success in those little areas. Taylor served the ball great and I think we're making a lot of progress in our net play."
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Marist will travel north to face rival Siena on Friday, September 20. Match will start at 7:00 pm.
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