Nov. 6, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

THE WEEK AHEAD: Marist plays its final two home games of the 2009 season, hosting Niagara and Canisius at the McCann Center. The Purple Eagles and Golden Griffins each enter the weekend in the top-five of the MAAC standings.

LAST WEEKEND: The Red Foxes lengthened their winning streak to five with a sweep at Manhattan before a four-set loss to Iona at the McCann Center.

Marist started the weekend with a sweep of the Lady Jaspers at Draddy Gymnasium, 25-21, 25-23, 25-20. Alexandra Schultze led the Red Foxes with 12 kills, hitting .455 of the match. She also had a strong match defensively with eight digs and four blocks. Freshman Katie Estes had a career-high 11 kills. Emily Brosky led Marist with 13 digs.

The Red Foxes then hosted Iona on Sunday at the McCann Center. A record crowd of 1,212 was in attendance for the final event of "A Rae of Hope", a project put on by four Marist seniors to raise money and awareness for research in the fight against osteosarcoma which junior Raeanna Gutkowski is currently battling. The Gaels won the match 3-1 (25-21, 23-25, 25-17, 25-21), holding Marist to a .123 hitting percentage and recording 16 team blocks. Schultze led Marist with 14 kills, while Lindsey Schmid added 13 kills and hit .345.

SCHMID #2 IN ACES: Junior middle blocker Lindsey Schmid is second in the country in aces per set, hitting 0.62 service aces per set. With three aces last weekend, Schmid now has tied Sally Hanson for Marist's career service aces record with 168. Schmid has had at least one ace in 20 of 25 matches this season. As a team, Marist is 11th in the country in aces per set, averaging 1.86 aces per set.

HOME COURT ADVANTAGE: The Red Foxes are 7-3 at the McCann Center this season. Marist has dropped 11 out of 36 sets at home this season. The Red Foxes are hitting .240 in home matches and have hit 88 service aces while allowing only 44 aces.

GETTING IT DONE IN THE CLASSROOM: Four Marist volleyball players were named ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District selections on Thursday. Junior middle blocker Allie Burke and senior outside hitter Alexandra Schultze were First-Team All-District selections, and can now be selected for Academic All-American status. Joanna Foss and Dawn Jan were named to the Second-Team. The only other two Division I schools to have two first-team selections are Syracuse and Kansas State.

AMONG THE NATIONAL LEADERS: Seniors Alexandra Schultze and Dawn Jan are among the top-100 players in the country in kills per set and assists per set respectively. Schultze's 3.67 kills per set average puts her fifth in the MAAC and 88th in the country. Jan is second in the MAAC and 100th in the nation in assists per set, averaging 9.92 helpers per set.