QUEENS, N.Y. – Marist volleyball failed to win a set in their first two matches at the Jack Kaiser Classic, losing to St. John’s and Delaware State at Carneseca Arena.
Junior outside hitter Sara Dasic led Marist offensively, scoring 19 kills on the day, 13 of which came in the match against Delaware State. The offense as a whole struggled on Friday; Marist finished with a .112 hitting percentage against St. John’s, then followed with a .140 hitting percentage against the Hornets.
“I was really disappointed with how we came out this morning,” said head coach Sean Byron.
Byron tried an abundance of combinations with his pin hitters: Dasic, sophomores Eden Bristow and Taylor Miller and freshmen Eleana Koute and Mallory Reck each played a significant amount across the two matches.
“All three of them are pretty equal,” said Byron of his outside hitters. “Any given day, they can all be really good, or they can all struggle a little bit. The good news is, we’ve got somebody else over there that can kind of fill in.”
A unanimous All-Big East Team selection in 2024, senior setter/right-side hitter Erin Jones led the Red Storm to their early afternoon win over Marist. In St. John’s 6-2 offense, Jones set when in the back row and hit when she rotated to the front row; Jones finished her match with a triple-double – 15 kills, 11 assists and 10 digs.
Miller got the start, her first of the season, against the Red Storm. After making the All-MAAC Rookie Team in 2024, Miller played sparingly to start 2025; she wasted no time getting started on Friday, ripping a kill on the first play of the match.
However, Jones hurt the Red Foxes the most from the service line in the first set. Marist only trailed 13-11, but a 12-0 run from St. John’s won them the first set – Jones served tough and added two aces on the scoring streak.
The second set looked to be on a similar trajectory as the first, with the Red Storm stretching out a 20-14 lead. Three consecutive St. John’s errors got Marist back in it, while the Red Foxes’ 8-3 run brought them within a point at 23-22.
St. John’s did not let them knot the score back up; kills from Jones and senior outside hitter Lucrezia Lodi ended the set, 25-22. Marist’s offense performed well in the set, killing 12 of 31 attack attempts, but the Red Foxes did not have an answer for St. John’s once they got within striking distance.
Marist opened the third set on a quick 4-0 run thanks to two aces by junior libero Claudia Kasperski, but the Red Storm slowly but surely worked their way back on top. Tied at 18 later in the set, the home squad won seven of the ensuing eight points to sweep the Red Foxes.
Less than two hours later, Marist took the floor against Delaware State, who jumped all over the Red Foxes early. In the blink of an eye, the Hornets held an 8-2 lead.
Despite playing earlier in the day, Marist started the match sloppily as errors plagued them for the entirety of the set. The Red Foxes committed more attack errors than they had kills, and also recorded more service errors than they had aces. Of Delaware State’s 25 points, 14 came from Marist errors.
At the net, middle blocker Hannah Sanders dominated Marist’s defense. On only seven attempts, the junior slammed six kills in the set.
Marist started to settle in after a disappointing first set, but a rough four-point stretch cost the Red Foxes in the second. Leading 8-7, a kill from Delaware State tied the score, then Dasic got stuffed at the net twice in a three-point span.
The other point? A miscommunication between freshmen outside hitters Ava Lanzetta and Reck on a freeball resulted in the ball landing harmlessly on Marist’s floor.
The Hornets cruised from there to a 25-17 victory, but to no fault of Marist’s offense. The Red Foxes swung for a .348 hitting percentage in the set; their problems came in serve receive.
Delaware State served six aces in the set, opposed to just one from the Red Foxes. When not acing Marist, they continued their dominance at the net. The high-flying Hornets landed kills at an unthinkable rate, converting on 66% of their attacks.
Marist controlled much of the third set, but failed to put Delaware State away on multiple occasions. The Hornets climbed out of an 8-4 hole, but Marist pushed their lead to 15-9 not long after.
With a chance to bury Delaware State, the Hornets scored four straight to prompt a timeout from Byron. After the break, senior outside hitter Gerren Tomlin hammered back-to-back kills to tie the match.
The sides traded points for the rest of the way, but the Hornets reached set point first. There, a block by junior outside hitter Emma Patmon and graduate student middle blocker Kelsie Dawson on Koute ended the match.
Marist finishes up its weekend slate in Queens on Saturday night against West Virginia, one of Byron’s previous coaching stops. The first serve is set for 7 p.m. at Carneseca Arena.
Edited by Jaylen Rizzo
Photo by Gene Barbieri
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo
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