Marist volleyball opened its season with two losses at the Buffalo Invitational, losing 3-0 to Liberty and 3-1 to Rutgers.
The Red Foxes failed to break 20 points in any of the sets they lost against their stiff competition, but won the opening set of their match with the Scarlet Knights out of the Big Ten, 25-22.
Over the course of the two matches, Mallory Reck led the Marist offense with 19 kills; the freshman outside hitter recorded 11 kills in her first career match, then added eight in the afternoon match against Rutgers. Junior outside hitter Sara Dasic added 14 kills of her own, including 10 against Rutgers on an efficient .348 hitting percentage.
As the lone healthy setter on the roster, freshman Caelyn Dumas handled the setting duties for both matches, where she totaled 48 assists.
Reck wasted no time in her first set of collegiate action; she recorded Marist’s three points of the match all on kills, and five kills on only 10 swings in the set. The Red Foxes hung with Liberty in the early going, but despite a pair of timeouts from head coach Sean Byron, the Flames stretched out to a 14-8 lead.
The cushion proved to be enough as Liberty took the first set, 25-17, doing so thanks to strong serving. In addition to four aces in the first frame, the Flames fired consistent, tough serves that kept Marist out of system. It forced Dumas to move around on the court to set the errant passes, allowing Liberty to set up an efficient block.
Though it was Marist who took the lead in the early going, the rest of the second set played out the same as the first. Liberty won 25-18, this time stemming from a seemingly unstoppable offense. On 21 swings, the Flames tallied 14 kills and only two errors, good for an impressive .571 hitting percentage.
Liberty cruised through the third set to a 25-13 victory, again doing so with a high-powered offense (.325 hitting percentage). It was not just overpowering attacks from the Liberty side; the Flames dropped in countless off-speed attacks for kills, placing the ball where Marist defenders were not.
In the two-sets-to-one hole, Marist never found its footing. The Red Foxes committed 10 attack errors and only scored five kills; they ultimately finished with more attack errors (24) than kills (23).
A few hours later, Rutgers and Marist traded the lead throughout the majority of the first set of the 4 p.m. match; the Red Foxes benefitted from five missed serves by the Scarlet Knights. Neither team could gain separation, but with the score tied at 22, Marist dominantly closed the set.
Freshman right-side hitter Eleana Koute served an ace to put Marist out front, then on the ensuing point, sophomore middle hitter Sarah Bumstead hit a missile of a swing off a perfect set from Dumas. Now at set point for the first time in 2025, Koute sent another strong serve – nearly resulting in an ace – that forced Rutgers to send a free ball over the net.
From there, Dumas set Reck, who nailed a kill to give Marist their first set victory of the season, something that took them nine matches to do last year.
Rutgers woke up in the second set, putting up similar offensive numbers to Liberty’s impressive second set earlier in the day. The Scarlett Knights swung for a .448 hitting percentage on 17 kills, comfortably securing a 25-17 win. Senior outside hitter/defensive specialist Lexi Visintine took over the set, killing six attacks.
13 points into the third set, Byron had used more timeouts than points his team scored. Rutgers took a 12-1 lead and never looked back, keeping Marist under double digits en route to a 25-9 win.
To the Red Foxes’ credit, they quickly put the embarrassing third set behind them. Marist took a 12-9 lead in the fourth, but Rutgers promptly stormed back, scoring 16 of the next 18 points to take the match and prevent Marist from pushing the match to a fifth set.
Marist plays its third and final match of the Buffalo Invite on Saturday at 4 p.m. against the University of Buffalo.
Edited by Ava Battinelli
Graphic by Quinn DiFiore
Photos by Jaylen Rizzo
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