NIAGARA FALLS, New York– The Marist volleyball team defeated the Niagara Purple Eagles in five sets on Saturday afternoon. The Red Foxes have now won both matches against Niagara this season, and just handed the Purple Eagles their first loss at home this season.
With the win, the Red Foxes improve to 12-13 on the season, and 10-5 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play. Meanwhile, Niagara drops to 11-15 on the season, and is also 10-5 in MAAC play, however Marist now owns the tiebreaker. For the moment, Marist is now in third place in the conference standings.
- Sarah Austin got off to a hot start in the first set, tallying a quick six kills to help the Red Foxes get out to a 17-12 lead. The Purple Eagles went on a quick 3-0 run to cut their deficit to just two points, but back-to-back kills from Halle Carter and Megan Fergus extended Marist's lead to four points. Niagara called timeout trailing 21-17 to try and regroup, but it was futile. The Red Foxes won the first set 25-21
- Niagara rebounded by getting off to a torrid start in the second set. The Purple Eagles opened on a 10-3 run, and never looked back. Although they were able to cut the deficit to as low as three, the Red Foxes were never able to get closer than that in the set. Niagara went on to win 25-20.
- The third set was very tightly contested all the way throug, with six lead changes and 11 ties in the early going leading to the Red Foxes taking a 15-14 lead into the media timeout. Niagara would not go away, tying up the match at 20. DeSerpa crushed a kill on the next rally, and sparked a 5-0 Red Fox run to end the set, giving Marist a 2-1 edge.
- Just like in the third set, the fourth set was very evenly matched in the early going. After a few ties and lead changes, back-to-back kills from Fergus led to the Red Foxes gaining a 13-12 advantage. The Purple Eagles countered with an 8-1 scoring run, and took a 20-14 lead. They went on to win the set 25-20 and force a fifth set.
- The Red Foxes quickly got out to a 6-3 lead and forced Niagara to burn a timeout. It didn't quite work, as Marist took the next two points to extend its lead to 8-3. The Purple Eagles slowly clawed their way back into the set, until they were able to tie it at 10. That was when the seniors took over, as a kill from DeSerpa, a block from Stephanie Stone, and a kill from Fergus put Marist in front 13-10. The Red Foxes went on to win the set 15-11, and the match 3-2.
- DeSerpa totaled a match-high 20 kills in the match, on a .212 hitting percentage. She also added seven digs, a block, and an ace.
- Fergus was right behind her fellow senior, tallying 18 kills to go along with 17 digs for a double-double. She also had four total blocks and a service ace.
- Austin was the other Red Fox with double-figure kills, smacking 14. She also double-doubled chipping in a massive 23 digs.
- Carter had a match-high 54 assists, commanding Marist's offence. She also had a match-high 24 digs, good for her biggest double-double of the season.
- Stone had a game-high five total blocks, and she also had two kills and two digs to go along with those blocks.
- Grace Hetterscheidt led Niagara with 17 kills in the match.
- The Red Foxes outhit the Purple Eagles .237-.203 in the match.
- With her first kill of the match, Fergus took over sole possession of fourth place on the program's all-time kills list.
- Austin's 23 digs set a new career-high, besting her previous career best of 20 set earlier this season.
- DeSerpa's 20 kills were a season-high, and the most she has tallied since October 20, 2018 which was also at Niagara.
- This was the third time in her career that Carter reached 50 assists in a single match. Also, her 24 digs were a new career-high. This was the first 20-20 game of her career.
The Red Foxes are back at it tomorrow against the Canisius Golden Griffins in Buffalo, NY. First serve is set for 1 p.m.
