The Marist women’s volleyball team has finally found their match after weeks of dreadful searching. In March, Coach Lauren Amundson stepped down after 4 years at Marist. Many stressful interviews later and still no coach, they have finally welcomed head coach Sean Bryon.
“It was awkward timing for us not to have a coach,” says senior caption Nikki DeSerpa, “We were very hands on during the interview process and were pretty involved with the whole thing, which made it a lot easier for us”.
DeSpera who was recently named captain in the beginning of the season, has been nothing short of amazing the past three years. In the record book, DeSerpa is currently 9th in all-time kills with 364 total and 1,098 total attacks in a single season. Based off of her average for each season, she could possibly be able to finish as the schools No. 3 all time leader in kills.
The goal is to win it all, which they hope Coach Bryon can help them achieve. “We needed this change… We had all the pieces to go all the way last year we just needed someone to help us put it together,” DeSerpa explained. Excitement is an understatement for these girls.
Coach Sean Byron, who has over 2 decades of coaching experience has happily fulfilled the head coach position. Bryon, has helped with coaching the United States National Pipeline, has won 2 national championships as an assistant coach for the Ohio State men’s team, and has worked as an assistant coach at the University of Michigan for the past 3 seasons.
“He has been awesome, he’s so knowledgeable and you can tell he’s been around the fame for a long time,” hoping to have found their missing puzzle piece, “We trust the new methods that he has been implementing and the strategies he’s shown us that have helped us tremendously.”
Last weekend the Red Foxes attended the UB invite, where they came home 0-3, losing to Alabama, Colgate and Buffalo. With Alabama being such a big school, and one of the best in their division, the Red Foxes held up with a very close game (20-25, 19-25, 17-25).
With a coach in place and an excited team, the women are engaged and ready to start their season. Captain Nikki DeSerpa is ready to be the “hype man” this season, and hopefully helping her team bring home the MAAC Championship.