Following a narrow victory in the first set, Quinnipiac comfortably swept Marist as the Bobcats’ high-flying offense found its footing.
In each set of its 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-16) victory, Quinnipiac stretched out to large early leads, putting the pressure on Marist, who had to attempt to mount comebacks.
No one player stood out on the Quinnipiac offense; senior setter Damla Gunes effectively spread the ball out between all five of her hitters. All of which finished with seven or more kills, nearly evenly dividing the Bobcats’ 39 kills as a team.
Marist struggled mightily on its side of the net, totaling 22 attack errors and finishing with a .086 hitting percentage. Sophomore outside hitter Eden Bristow led the Red Foxes with eight kills on the night.
“Our offense has to get better… we have to kill balls,” said head coach Sean Byron
The Red Foxes did their job defensively, holding one of the conference’s best offenses to a .181 hitting percentage, significantly lower than the .200 that they averaged before this contest. The offense fell short, costing Marist a chance to take a set against the Bobcats.
Quinnipiac overwhelmed Marist to begin the match, starting from the service line. The Bobcats consistently served the Red Foxes out of system as Damla Gunes induced two overpasses on her first three serves.
Marist stuffed the stat sheet with errors as Quinnipiac jumped out to a 7-1 lead. The Red Foxes began clawing their way back in it, starting with a solo block on graduate student opposite hitter Elena Giacomini by freshman outside hitter Mallory Reck, which fired up Marist’s bench.
The rest of the Red Foxes got active in the block as they shut down the MAAC’s best statistical offense amidst their comeback; the Bobcats entered with an average of 13.67 kills per set, the most in the conference.
A block from junior outside hitter Sara Dasic and sophomore middle blocker Savannah Smith brought the Red Foxes within one, and freshman right-side hitter Ava Lanzetta gave Marist its first lead of the set with a block of her own at 19-18.
On defense, the Red Foxes kept Yagmur Gunes in check in the first: Quinnipiac’s star senior outside hitter only scored two kills and committed six attack errors in the process.
Marist put Quinnipiac on its heels, taking a 23-22 lead, threatening to steal the set. Giacomini and Yagmur Gunes landed kills to flip the one-point deficit into a one-point advantage, and the Bobcats won the set on the ensuing point when Smith sent an attack into the tape.
Quinnipiac carried its strong finish into the second; the Bobcats pushed their early set lead near double digits at 15-6. A quick 5-1 run from the Red Foxes forced a timeout from Quinnipiac head coach Kyle Robinson, and the Bobcats countered by winning six of the following nine points to re-establish their advantage.
After a sloppy first set for their standards, the Bobcats’ offense settled in, posting 13 kills on an efficient .219 hitting percentage. However, their blocking made the difference in the second set. Quinnipiac denied five Marist attacks en route to a 25-21 victory, putting the Red Foxes in an 0-2 hole.
For the third time in the evening, the Bobcats took immediate control of a set; this time, they won seven of the first nine points. Marist immediately fought back, rattling off a 7-1 run to take its first lead of the set.
It did not last long.
The Bobcats won six straight points, culminating with back-to-back blocks on Reck by Damla Gunes. That’s all that Quinnipiac needed; the Red Foxes never worked their way back into it, as the Bobcats ran away with a 25-16 victory in the third.
Quinnipac torched Marist offensively in the final set, hitting .321 and looking utterly dominant as they buried the Red Foxes on a 7-1 scoring stretch to end the match.
Next up, the Red Foxes head upstate for matches at Canisius and Niagara, two teams with which Marist will likely be jostling for playoff positioning as the MAAC Tournament approaches.
“It’s a huge weekend,” said Byron. “All these teams are going to end up in tiebreakers. It’s going to be us, Siena, Canisius, Niagara.”
The Red Foxes play Canisius first, on Friday at 6 p.m.
Edited by August Lieberman
Graphic by Xavier Angel
Photo by Xavier Angel
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