The Siena Volleyball team ran into tough luck on Saturday afternoon, as they fell in three straight but close sets to the Marist Red Foxes in a 3-0 (27-25, 25-23, 25-23) defensive battle.
 
"I'm sure that our team has to feel frustrated with the result today," said head coach Vilis Ozols. "They showed me we have what it takes but we still need to get to the point where we can sustain our positive momentum."
 
Freshman Olga Sawinska led the way with 12 kills on the afternoon, as she led the offense. Siena's defense was stout at the net, led by senior Abby Huffman who added six block assists with her five blocks. Graduate student Emily Wunder finished with nine kills, while freshman Sara Wagner had a respectable seven kill, 13 dig performance. The Saints would finish with a better attack percentage than Marist, .200 to .181.


Marist saw reigning MAAC Player of the Week Jordan Newblatt put up a match-high 15 kills, while Gabriella Heimbauer connected on 13 kills. Jillian Hanna had five service aces and 11 digs, while libero Morgan Owens led in that department with 15 digs.
 
Siena came out fast, opening up a 12-2 lead in the first set. Multiple kills from Sawinska and a handful of service aces led to the strong start. However, Marist would find their groove that saw them score on 14 of the next 18 rallies to tie the match up at 16-16. From there, it would go back and forth until Siena claimed a 23-21 lead. Then Marist got back-to-back kills from Heimbauer and a service ace to force set point. A Marist attack error would then force the score to 24-24 before each side traded kills to 25-25. The Red Foxes then turned to Newblatt for a pair of kills to end the set 27-25, and put Marist up 1-0.
 
Scoring runs would be the name of the game in the second and third set, as Marist would take 25-23 victories in both to wrap the match. A large Marist run in the middle of the second set turned an 11-10 Siena lead into a 16-11 Marist lead that they would not surrender. Despite multiple attempts by Siena with the score tied, Marist continued to push ahead. After a kill from Wunder to make it 23-23, Marist once again closed out with two straight points to go up 2-0. They would finish it off in the third, once again coming back from an early Siena lead and closing the third set 25-23 for the 3-0 sweep.
 
The Saints return to action next Saturday, Oct. 23 when they play host to the Manhattan Jaspers for the second time this season at the UHY Center at 11 a.m.