On a late October afternoon in Poughkeepsie, the Marist women’s volleyball team took on Niagara in a late-season conference matchup. The Red Foxes were looking to snap a three-game skid which halted their 9-1 start to conference play.
Amid a 7-0 run during the first set, senior outside hitter Sasha van der Merwe tallied her fourth kill of the day and 330th of the season. Though the play was just like any other point towards winning a set, the point carried significant magnitude for van der Merwe. During the next time out, head coach Sean Byron made sure the team knew what had just happened.
“Sean wrote it on the little whiteboard: 1,000,” recalled van der Merwe. “And he was like, ‘For those of you who don’t know, Sasha just hit 1,000 kills,’ and I teared up a bit, which I know sounds kind of lame, but to think that I’ve spent so much time here and really grown here; it meant a lot.”
van der Merwe became the 10th player in Marist volleyball history to eclipse 1,000 kills in their collegiate career. Two weeks later, senior outside hitter Jordan Newblatt became the 11th Red Fox to reach quadruple digits.
Hitting this mark is representative of the statistical success van der Merwe and Newblatt have had in their time at Marist and the success of the team overall in this most recent era under Byron.
Now, after four years at Marist, both van der Merwe and Newblatt entered the transfer portal to find a new destination to finish their college careers.
Both van der Merwe and Newblatt recall picking up volleyball in fifth grade in a similar fashion: once they figured they had a knack for volleyball, both decided to commit to it as their main sport
van der Merwe, a native of Ontario, Canada, spent her high school years playing for a club team, the Ontario Regional Team and the Canadian Youth National Team. She played against girls two years older than her earlier in her career, meaning she was often undersized for the competition. As van der Merwe grew and developed her skill, she realized the possibilities the sport could bring her.
A big part of van der Merwe’s decision to come to the United States to play college volleyball instead of staying in Canada was the challenge of stronger competition in the NCAA. Acknowledging that there are plenty of good Canadian collegiate teams, she added that the travel can be more intense in the Ontario University Athletics Association.
By the end of middle school, Newblatt fully committed to being a one-sport athlete, playing for Team Detroit Volleyball Club. She attended Clarkston High School in Michigan, the same high school as former Marist outside hitter and close family friend Sarah Austin.
Newblatt then chose Marist in part thanks to her relationship with Austin and hearing positive things from a player who worked with Byron at the University of Michigan.
Their freshman year, along with the rest of the class of 2024, was marred by the COVID-19 pandemic and college-wide restrictions that made “normal life” impossible. The team only played four games that spring before the season was called off. Still, the older members of the team showed van der Merwe and Newblatt the ropes of college, being an athlete and being a leader.
“Our seniors took us in and made sure that we knew you can just come over and hang out,” said van der Merwe. “And they let us know how you feel like Bambi on ice right now, and that’s fine. It’s normal.”
The 2021 season was van der Merwe and Newblatt’s time to shine. The program transitioned from the days of Austin and Megan Fergus to a new group ready to take the reins.
“We had 13 underclassmen [on the roster our sophomore year], so it gave Sasha and I both a lot of opportunity to learn,” said Newblatt. “It helped us develop into the players we are today because we were able to learn through our mistakes and continue playing.”
The pair hit the ground running and helped Marist earn the third seed in the MAAC tournament. Newblatt, who led the team with 384 kills, her Marist season high, earned a spot on the All-MAAC First Team. Newblatt set the program’s single-match record for kills during that season with 31. A day later, she broke her own record with 34.
“Any accomplishment is nice,” said Newblatt. “I think a lot of people when I was going through high school and club had their doubts [about me]; I’m a little bit undersized, and I wasn’t the greatest. So it’s nice to see the hard work paid off.”
In their junior year, van der Merwe announced herself as one of the premier volleyball players in the conference, earning an All-MAAC First Team selection and leading the conference in kills with 426.
“I just hit the crap out of the ball pretty much every chance I get,” is how van der Merwe described what’s going through her mind when floating in the air for a kill.
While the pair have been at the helm for much of the program’s success in the last few years, volleyball is a quintessential team sport. A prime example is that behind every great hitter, there has to be a great setter. Marist has been spoiled in the past few years with McKinley Fox, a five-year member of the team now serving as an assistant coach under Byron, and junior Claire Lewis.
In the past three years, either Fox or Lewis have surpassed 900 assists on the season.
“It’s something you strive for,” said Lewis when asked about surmounting 1,000 assists at Marist this year. Lewis spent her freshman season at Georgia State University, where she tallied 575 assists before transferring to Marist for her sophomore year.
“I couldn’t have done it without the hitters,” said Lewis. “I could send them any ball, and they’ll get a kill, so it makes it easy for me.”
The success continued for van der Merwe and Newblatt in their senior year, both earning a second All-MAAC First Team selection. van der Merwe was also named the 2023 women’s volleyball MAAC Player of the Year.
When asked what has contributed to the team’s recent sustained success, Byron acknowledged the kinds of people his players are.
“I think we have got good kids in the program that want to train and compete and value being successful at what they’re doing,” said Byron. “It’s not necessarily just on the court; anything they do, they do above and beyond. They’re unbelievable students; they’re fun people to hang out with; they do stuff. I think a lot of our success depends on people like that.”
Despite the decorated players and statistical accomplishments that have boosted this program for the past few years, there’s still one undeniable hole in their resume: a playoff win.
“Even with all those accomplishments, obviously it sucks we didn’t get a ring, and that still really stings,” said van der Merwe.
In the past three seasons, Marist has entered the MAAC tournament as the higher seed and fell swiftly in the first round each time.
“We always go in such a high seed, and I feel like we feel that pressure, and sometimes that’s hard to handle,” said Lewis. “And also, we haven’t won a playoff game, so we always have that in the back of our mind, like, ‘Is this going to be the year that we win it?’”
Newblatt will join Bowling Green State University next year, a move that brings her closer to home. van der Merwe will transfer to Florida Gulf Coast University, who are the defending Atlantic Sun Conference Champions. Both players are jumping up the NCAA rankings; FGCU finished 2023 ranked 52nd, BGSU was 122nd, while Marist was 243rd.
“I love Marist, but I feel like it’s time to open a new chapter and have a new experience,” said van der Merwe.
In 2024, Lewis will become the anchor of a much less experienced squad that Marist has fielded in the past few years.
“Like every year, we want to be able to compete for a championship, and we want to be able to continually grow our depth,” said Byron. “This year is a testament to [the fact that] you’ve got to be deeper than three hitters.”
Now, Marist’s volleyball program will have to start from scratch, losing its star hitters. Then again, van der Merwe and Newblatt didn’t emerge until they were given a chance, giving others the opportunity to do the same under Byron.
Edited by Ben Leeds and Dan Aulbach
Graphic by Cara Lacey; Photos from Marist Athletics and Jaylen Rizzo
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