Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
3-7
Marist College
5-2
Volleyball Drops Hudson Valley Matchup at Marist
September 10, 2014 | Volleyball
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Army completed its five-match road trip on Wednesday night with a 3-0 loss to Marist at McCann Arena. The Red Foxes won the match with set scores of 26-24, 25-16 and 24-18.
With the result, Army dropped to 3-7 on the season, while Marist improved to 5-2. The victory for Marist snapped a 10-game losing streak in the series against Army.
"We didn't play well tonight," head coach Alma Kovaci said. "We looked tired and a bit slower than Marist. They have a very experienced team with a lot of great returners and played phenomenal volleyball in front of their crowd, and we are extremely young. Our serve and passing game struggled, but I take full responsibility for this match. We have played a lot of games in a very short amount of time and after coming back from California on Monday, it is expected to be tired and this loss is on me. We will recover tomorrow and get ready for our home tournament on Saturday and Sunday. I have faith that we will continue to grow and will succeed this season."
Marist raced out to an early 9-3 lead in set one and the Red Foxes maintained their advantage at 17-11. Army put together a 5-2 stretch to close the gap to two points (19-17), forcing Marist to call timeout, before eventually tying the score at 23-23. The teams alternated points before Marist scored twice to take the opening set 26-24.
The home side controlled the second set from the start and built and 8-2 cushion after the first 10 points. Army was unable to get into the set and fell into a 2-0 hole as Marist won set two 25-16.
Once again, Marist claimed a quick lead at 6-2, but Army answered with five straight points to take a 7-6 lead in the final set. Rookie Carolyn Bockrath had three of her team-high 13 kills during the 5-0 stretch, classmate Amber Clay had another and the Black Knights took advantage of a service error by Marist en route to the one-point edge. The score was knotted at 14 apiece, before Marist separated itself from the Black Knights. Marist scored seven of the next eight points and closed out the set 25-18.
Bockrath led Army with a .524 hitting percentage and Clay finished with eight kills. Vanessa Edwards narrowly missed a double-double with 27 assists and nine digs, while Deanna Dalton posted a match-high 17 digs. For Marist, Amanda Schlegel racked up 32 assists and Mackenzie Stephens totaled nine kills. Brooke Zywick had 15 digs in a winning effort for Marist.
Army returns to action this weekend when it hosts the Black Knights Invitational. The four-team tournament begins on Saturday when Army opens Patriot League play against Holy Cross at 11 a.m., followed by Oakland and Binghamton at 1 p.m.
