Nov. 22, 2014 Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
Garvey Pierre and the Siena Saints are heading back to the NCAA Tournament.
Siena (19-14) put the exclamation point on a remarkable late season run with a thrilling five-set (25-20, 21-25, 25-20, 18-25 and 15-12) win over regular-season champion Marist in the MAAC Championship match Saturday afternoon at HP Pavilion in ESPN's Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney World.
It's the program's record ninth MAAC title, and fifth under Pierre who has brought Siena to more NCAA Tournaments than any coach in any sport.
"I'm feeling great," the under spoken Pierre said right after the match. "Emotions are really high. Good team spirit. It cannot be better than that. It's really sweet."
Siena got 18 kills from senior Rachel Stoklosa who turned her season around late in the year and would not be denied in her final quest for a title
"This experience has been great," Stoklosa said. "We were so close our sophomore year and didn't quite finish it, but this year we had all the power and we were all behind it and it was just a great all around win."
The Saints trailed 11-10 in the decisive fifth set after three straight attack errors, but they regrouped and took the lead back on back-to-back kills by Christina Monroe and Meghann Wright. Stoklosa finished a Haley Howell feed moments later to put Siena on the brink 14-12, and then Howell and Jacqueline Skeen rose to block Devon Dawson's attack for match point. The Siena bench spilled out onto the court to celebrate.
"It was unbelievable that we ended the game like that," Skeen said. "It was surreal."
Four of Siena's five Championships under Pierre have gone the full five sets. This was Siena's first Championship since 2008 when it won its last of four consecutive titles with a sweep of Fairfield.
Sophomore Sonja Vasovic came up big, playing perhaps the best match of her promising career with 15 kills and just two errors on the right side. Skeen had nine kills and seven blocks in the middle despite hitting against a Marist double team for most of the match.
"It just really means a lot to us," Skeen said. "We've been working really hard the last four years. Last year we didn't make it, we had to sit in our home court and watch everybody else play. So this has been a really, really great experience for us - we fought really hard to be here. We busted our butts and gave it all on the court, and did what we had to do - we got the win."
The win was a total team effort as has been the case throughout the last month of the season. Siena enters the NCAA Championships on a nine match win streak, and proved to be the best team in the conference when it matters most.
Senior tri-captains Stoklosa, Skeen and Wright all played major roles in the Championship run, but the future looks bright too. Sophomore Haley Howell had 51 assists on Siena's 57 kills and added 13 digs, while classmate Bobbi Lin Kalama posted a match-high 23 digs and passed with precision off Marist's dangerous service all afternoon.
Kelsey Lahey led three Marist players in double figure kills with 18. The Red Foxes finish the season 25-6, but fell short of claiming their first MAAC title.
The Saints will find out where they're headed on Sunday, November 30 at 8:30 p.m. during the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championships Selection Show on ESPNU.
