BUFFALO, New York – The Marist volleyball team closed out the University of Buffalo Invite on Saturday, August 31 with an afternoon match against Colgate and a night match against Buffalo. The Red Foxes were defeated 3-2 by the Colgate Raiders in the first match of the day and then fell to Buffalo 3-0 later in the night.

Following the doubleheader, Marist moves to 0-3 on the season. Meanwhile, Colgate and Buffalo are now both 1-1.
 

MARIST VS COLGATE SUMMARY

• The Red Foxes opened set one with five straight points. The Raiders slowly closed the gap, and eventually took a 17-16 lead. Junior Sarah Austin and senior Megan Fergus delivered back-to-back kills to put Marist in front, but Colgate answered with an 8-3 run to win the set 25-20.
• The second set was tightly contested at the start, but a couple of Austin kills helped the Red Foxes get out to a 12-9 lead. Marist thoroughly dominated the rest of the set, only allowing the Raiders to score 15 points before the Red Foxes won their first set of the year.
• Colgate answered in a big way in the third set, taking some of the momentum back. Marist took a timeout trailing 12-6, but the Raiders scored eight straight points following the break, and never looked back. Colgate took the set 25-10.
• The Red Foxes and Raiders went back-and-forth early in set four. Marist gained control of the set when a back-to-back monster kills from sophomore Ashley Cruise sparked a 7-1 Red Fox run, paving the way to a 25-20 set four victory.
• Freshman Gabby Murray provided a clutch kill in set five, giving Marist an 8-7 lead and forcing a Colgate timeout. However, the Raiders recovered during the stoppage in play, and rebounded with an 8-1 run closing out the set, and the match.

 

MARIST VS COLGATE STATS

• Austin led Marist with 19 kills, while Fergus was the only other Red Foxes in double figures with 11.
• Junior Courtney Kasperski totaled 13 digs in her first start at libero this season, leading the Red Foxes.
• Alli Lowe had a match-high 18 kills for the Raiders. Taylor Flaherty (15) and Alex Stein (12) were also in double figures.
• Both Lowe and Stein tallied double-doubles, adding 10 and 15 digs, respectively.
• The Raiders outhit the Red Foxes, .308 to .132. Colgate also had 12 total blocks, while Marist had just one.

 

MARIST VS BUFFALO SUMMARY

• With Marist trailing 4-0 in set one, Megan Fergus opened the scoring by smashing back-to-back kills. The Red Foxes kept the set close, hanging within two or three points for the majority of play, but Buffalo pulled away towards the end and prevailed in set one 25-19. The Red Foxes had three outside hitters with three or more kills in the first set: Austin (4), Cruise (4), and Fergus (3), but came up short.
• Murray continued her impressive day, opening the scoring of set two with an impressive kill. Again, Buffalo got out to an early lead though, and fought off just about every run Marist had in them. The Bulls would win the set 25-20. 
• The Bulls played lockdown defense in the third set, tallying seven blocks. They had 14 for the match, with half coming in this set. Buffalo got out to an early lead again this set, but this time didn't give the Red Foxes a chance to try and rally. The Bulls took the set 25-10, and the match 3-0. 

 

MARIST VS BUFFALO STATS

• Fergus and Austin tied for the team lead in kills with 10 each.
• Sophomore McKinley Fox followed up her impressive performance in game one with 30 moe assists against Buffalo. 
• Kasperski led Marist with nine digs. 
• The Bulls outhit the Red Foxes .377 to .111.
• The Bulls' Prokudina Polina had a match-high 12 kills.

 

NOTES FROM THE DAY

• Fox was named to the UB Invite All-Tournament Team. She set a new career high with 39 assists against Colgate, and averaged 31.7 assists per set in the tournament.
• In her first career start against Colgate, Murray tallied five kills and one block. She than matched her career high in the second game, adding five more kills. 
• DeSerpa is 18 kills away from tying for 9th place on Marist's all-time kills list. With 19 kills, she would be in sole possession of 9th place.

 

NEXT UP

The Red Foxes will participate in the Hampton Inn-Vitational on Friday, September 6 and Saturday, September 7. Marist's first game will be on Friday against Villanova. First serve is scheduled for 8 p.m.