POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – The Marist volleyball program announced the addition of two freshman that will join the team ahead of the 2020 volleyball season.
Sasha Van Der Merwe: 6'1" / Guelph, Canada
Van Der Merwe is an outside hitter from Canada who has played for the Canada Youth National team and Ontario Regional Team. She also has spent time playing for the well-renowned Halton Hurricanes Club. Last season, Van Der Merwe won gold in both the Provincial (Ontario) and National Championships and was named as one of six All Stars at the National Championships. She was selected for the Canadian Women's Youth National Team (16Us) at the end of last year. She competed in the 18U USA Volleyball High Performance Championship in Tulsa, OK, in July of 2018 (where her team finished in fourth) and in the 18U NORCECA Qualifier tournament in Honduras in August of 2018 where her team won silver and qualified for Worlds. In Worlds, her team managed to defeat Cuba in a five-set thriller. She was then selected to the Team Ontario Black team this past summer and competed in the USAV High Performance Championship in Fort Lauderdale from July 18-22. She captained this team and led it to a silver medal. This was the best performance any Ontario team has ever had in this tournament. For her performance, she was named a USAV High-Performance Championship All-Star.
"Sasha will bring a great level of experience and skill to our program." Head Coach
Sean Byron said. "We couldn't be happier to add her personality and ability to the Red Fox program."
Jordan Newblatt: 6'1" / Clarkston High School
Newblatt is an outside hitter out of Clarkston, Michigan, which is the same high school attended by junior outside hitter
Sarah Austin. At Clarkston, Newblatt spent time playing multiple positions, including middle blocker and outside hitter. She totaled 711 kills in her career, including a whopping 413 kills in her 2019-20 senior season. She even accumulated 67 total blocks, and 43 solo blocks. Newblatt also spent a lot of her career playing for the Team Detroit Volleyball Club. Jordan's brother, Stew, currently plays college football for the Columbia Lions, where he has played in 11 games over the past two seasons. Newblatt is interested in studying education here at Marist, and is an aspiring teacher.
"I am so excited for Jordan to join us, Byron said." Having seen her play for a few years, I have been so impressed with her energy and competitive spirit. She really never takes a swing off and will add passing and attacking to our lineup"
