Both times Merrimack and Marist have faced off in the Warriors’ first season in the MAAC Conference, the match has gone the distance, with Merrimack coming out victorious in five sets.
This time, Marist (3-22, 3-12 MAAC) held a controlling 2-0 lead after dominating the first two sets, but the Warriors (7-19, 6-9 MAAC) crusaded through the following three to pull off the reverse sweep on the Red Foxes.
Not only did Merrimack come back from a daunting two-sets-to-none deficit, but they also staged a stunning comeback in the fifth set. Marist led 12-7 only three points away from the 15 necessary to win the match, but the Warriors stormed back to knot the score at 12 thanks to a kill from freshman outside hitter Mckenna Shotwell.
Back-to-back attack errors by Marist’s freshman outside hitter Taylor Miller put Merrimack at match point, and two plays later Shotwell finished it off with another kill. Shotwell led the Warriors with 16 kills, second among all scorers behind Marist’s sophomore outside hitter Sara Dasic.
Merrimack controlled the pace of play early on, thanks to strong serving and a dominant attack. The Warriors swung for a .455 hitting percentage en route to a 10-8 lead, but from there the Red Foxes took over the set.
Marist promptly rattled off seven straight points with four coming thanks to kills from Dasic, who recorded a career-high of 24 kills the last time these two teams faced off. Then holding a five-point cushion, the Red Foxes cruised to a 25-18 victory in the first.
Dasic remained dominant throughout the entirety of the first set, slamming an impressive nine kills on only 15 attempts. She even added an ace that broke a tie earlier in the set.
Marist stayed scorching hot in the second by dominating the Warriors from start to finish, ultimately winning the set 25-16. Dasic once again captained the Red Foxes’ attack, landing another five kills, while Miller supplied four of her own.
The Red Foxes played clean on offense, only committing one attack error in the set, which saw them put 14 kills past Merrimack. The consistent attack resulted in a .433 hitting percentage for Marist, their highest mark of the season in a singular set. On the other side of the net, the Warriors never found their footing, tallying six attack errors and a sub-par .133 percentage.
Quickly thrown in the 2-0 hole, Merrimack had a lot of work to do, which they got started on right away. Playing with a sense of urgency, the Warriors scored the first four points of the third and lept out to a 6-1 advantage shortly thereafter.
The Red Foxes did not let them run away with the set, however, as senior middle hitter Alyssa White slammed an overpass to cut the deficit to two points, igniting the Marist bench in the process. They built on the momentum, scoring three of the next four points to knot the score at 13 and prompt a timeout from Merrimack head coach Ken Nichols.
The time out effectively quieted the Marist side; Merrimack swiftly took back the upper hand. The Warriors prevented the Red Foxes from taking the lead, eventually stretching to a 23-18 lead. Once again, Marist did not roll over, this time scoring four straight to shrink the deficit back down to one.
The Warriors did not let Marist tie the score back up, winning the next two points to take the set 25-22. Though neither offense played particularly well in the third, Marist self-sabotaged, recording eight kills and eight attack errors–a vast difference in comparison to only one in the previous set–resulting in an even .000 hitting percentage.
Merrimack kept the pressure on Marist by winning seven of the fourth set’s first 10 points before the Red Foxes’ head coach Sean Byron called a timeout. Marist could not shake their error-riddled play, giving out five free points as Merrimack went up 16-9, where Byron called his second timeout.
Neither break in the action slowed down Merrimack, who continued to add to their already healthy lead. Marist again stayed in their own way, recording as many attack errors as kills for the second consecutive set, while Merrimack ran away with it, winning 25-15 to stage a winner-take-all fifth set.
Despite entering the fifth set seemingly controlling all the momentum after winning two straight to stay alive, Marist quickly stormed out to a 7-2 lead. The two sides split the next ten points, leaving Marist with a five-point advantage, only three points away from a much-needed victory.
As they did all afternoon, Merrimack did not back down at the sight of a large deficit, this time scoring eight of the ensuing nine points to win the set 15-13, and the match 3-2.
Today’s loss all but eliminates the Red Foxes from the eight-team MAAC Tournament. With three games to play, Marist sits three games back of Merrimack, who sits in eighth place and holds the tiebreaker over the Red Foxes.
Marist wraps up the road portion of the schedule tomorrow afternoon at Quinnipiac, where they take on the Bobcats at 1 p.m.
Edited by Jaylen Rizzo
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo
Photo from Ricky Torres
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