NEW ROCHELLE, NY – The Iona College volleyball team fell in four sets (13-25, 29-27, 16-25, 13-15) to Marist College at the Hynes Center on Saturday night. Junior Jamie Smith and rookie Julia Thomas each had a team-high eight kills for the Gaels. The final contest of Iona's homecoming weekend began with the visiting Red Foxes stealing the first set, 25-13. Marist used an 8-2 run, which started when the score was 14-11, to take an early lead in the match.

Red Fox outside hitter Megan Fergus and Gabby Murray each had four kills in the first set. Sophie Theriot had three of Marist's six service aces in the set. Senior Karla Johnson and sophomore Cassandra Patsos had two kills each. Smith had five digs in the first set.

Fergus utterly dominated the second set, but Iona was able to get past her offensive prowess. Marist hit a match-low .239 in the second set while the Gaels hit a match-best .286. Smith had six kills in Iona's lone victorious game. Sophomore Alessandra Brady also had four kills and a pair of blocks.

Iona was able to get to 29-27 decision by battling through three set-points for Marist. Senior Julia Stewart served the final two winning points of the set. Smith's final kill of the game gave Iona the advantage and then a Marist attacking error resulted in the match being tied, 1-1. There were 18 ties and 10 lead changes in the second set.

Marist won the third set, 25-16, using dominant run in the middle of the frame to pull away much like the first set. A 10-2 run saw the Red Foxes lead float from 12-10 to 22-14. Fergus ended the set with her fifth kill of the set.

Patsos had three kills on eight swings in the third. Smith had seven attack attempts but wasn't able to get a single kill. Stewart and Johnson each had two kills.

The score was tied twice in the fourth set, but Marist pulled away to win the set, 25-13. Iona hit a match-worst .077 in the fourth despite having the second most kills in a single set with 11. Thomas had her best frame with four kills on five swings.

• Smith finished the game with a double-double; 10 assists and 11 digs. She had a team-best 10.0 points.
• Rookie Samantha Juran had 20 assists and eight digs. Redshirt senior Jessica Paolucci had 17 digs; she rebounded well after a rough start, getting five digs in the second, third and fourth set.
• Marist had 10 service aces and eight service errors. In contrast, the Gaels had four aces and six errors from the service line.
• Julia Thomas' eight kills came on 13 swings for a .538 attack percentage. She closed with 9.0 points.
• The Red Foxes had a side out percentage of 82% and 84% in the third and fourth sets.
• Marist's Fergus had a match-high 21 kills on 57 swings. She had a .281 hitting percentage and managed a double-double with 14 digs.
• Iona is 18-16 all-time against Marist. Saturday was the first time the Maroon & Gold lost to the Red Foxes since Nov. 6, 2016 at McCann Arena

• Rider defeated Saint Peter's in straight sets in Jersey City, NJ.
• Quinnipiac defended home court in four sets against Canisius.
• Manhattan also won in straight sets at Draddy Gymnasium against Siena.
• The Stags continued to roll, beating Niagara at Alumni Hall.

Iona's continues the homecoming weekend with a 5:00 p.m. contest against the Siena Saints on Sunday, Oct. 20. The MAAC contest is being broadcasted on Facebook Live and you can follow live stats on ICGaels.com. Be sure to follow Iona College athletics on all social media platforms:
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