LOUDONVILLE – The Siena Saints had a tough night putting together points on the board on Friday evening, as they fell to the Marist Red Foxes by a final of 3-0 (9-25, 16-25, 17-25) in the Alumni Recreation Center.
 
For Siena, junior Dakota Jackson led the way with six kills, while freshman Gracie Halley put up 10 digs. Isabella Ultsch, Maddy Dinigan, and Abby Huffman each finished with three assisted blocks.
 
Marist was led by a 14 kill performance from Morgan Fergus, while Niki DeSerpa also knocked in double-digit kills with 10. Stephanie Stone was also solid on offense with nine kills, while McKinley Fox tossed out 37 assists. Sophia Theriot had 15 digs in the match, as Fergus and Stone had a hand in five and six of Marist's seven blocks.
 
"That was a tough outing for us," said head coach Vilis Ozols. "We struggled with execution of our basic skills, passing, setting, serving, defense, and attacking – so we never really got into a competitive mindset all night. I know it's frustrating for this talented group to see such swings in their performance and that will be our focus going into our next matches."
 
It was all Marist to open in both the first and second sets. The Saints would have a terrible time on offense, hitting just .050 in the first set with a match low six kills. The Red Foxes would take an early 7-1 lead, but saw the Saints fight back to a 9-7 score. However, Marist would score on 16 of the next 18 rallies to clinch the set 25-9. It was much of the same in the second set, as the Red Foxes would score in bunches with Siena putting up eight errors and only seven kills in the set. Marist would take a 25-16 win in the second set to go up 2-0.
 
In the third set, the Saints would fight to within one early, trailing only 9-8 after a kill by Dunigan. But, Marist would take off once more, striking with a 7-0 run to double the lead at 16-8. The Red Foxes would close down the stretch from there, as they took a 25-17 win to sweep the match.
 
The Saints return to action next Saturday, Nov. 9 when the Green and Gold head west to take on Canisius, followed by a matchup with Niagara on Sunday. Saturday's showdown with the Golden Griffins, who the Saints topped 3-2 in the ARC back on Oct. 13, will square off at 1 p.m.