After seven seasons at the helm, Sean Byron will not return as Marist volleyball’s head coach, as announced by Marist’s Director of Athletics, Tim Murray, on Friday afternoon.
Byron spent decades coaching collegiate volleyball before coming to Poughkeepsie and has also occupied many roles with the U.S. men’s volleyball national team. Byron led Marist to a 78-103 overall record and went 62-50 against MAAC opponents.
Byron joined the Marist coaching staff in 2019, where the Red Foxes went 12-6 in MAAC play and earned the No. 4 seed in the MAAC Tournament. There, Marist swept Niagara, marking Byron’s lone postseason victory in his seven years at Marist.
His tenure was filled with talented teams and heartbreaking shortcomings in the conference tournament. In 2019, after topping Niagara in the first round, the Red Foxes got reverse-swept by the Fairfield Stags, a gut-wrenching loss to the eventual champions. In Marist’s next postseason appearance, the team lost to Quinnipiac in five sets in 2021.
A year later, the Red Foxes posted their best season with Byron at head coach, going 18-11 overall and 14-4 against MAAC opponents. Entering the MAAC Tournament as the No. 2 seed, the Red Foxes were stunned by No. 7 Rider in their first match of the tournament.
The Broncs, who went 7-11 in MAAC play, dominated Marist. Rider swung for an unthinkable .450 hitting percentage as a team, and the Red Foxes failed to even register 50 points in the three-set loss.
Marist returned much of its core in 2023, where the Red Foxes appeared to be the team to beat in the MAAC midway through their slate of conference games. A late-season skid left them in third place in the conference, but the team possessed the firepower necessary for a deep postseason run.
Senior outside hitters Sasha van der Merwe and Jordan Newblatt each reached 1,000 career kills and made the All-MAAC First Team; van der Merwe earned Player of the Year honors, living up to her distinction as the MAAC’s Preseason Player of the Year.
Again, the Red Foxes’ promising season came to an untimely end. Marist blew a 2-1 lead to Iona, losing another brutal five-set playoff match. Their championship window had effectively been slammed shut.
Made up nearly entirely of underclassmen in 2024, Marist struggled mightily, going 3-25 on the season. They showed improvements with an even younger squad in 2025; the Red Foxes went 10-20, with freshmen outside hitter Mallory Reck, setter Caelyn Dumas and right-side hitters Ava Lanzetta and Eleana Koute playing vital roles.
Marist finished the year tied for seventh with an 8-10 MAAC record, but had a win-and-in scenario in its last match of the season at Rider. The Red Foxes lost in three sets, and with Siena defeating Saint Peter’s, the Saints grabbed the sixth and final playoff spot.
The Red Foxes are still looking for their first conference championship, and now must begin their search for a new head coach to lead them there. With the transfer portal open, it remains to be seen which, if any, Red Foxes depart from the program as well.
Edited by Cara Lacey
Photo from Jaylen Rizzo
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