In a rematch of last year’s MAAC championship semifinal, the Quinnipiac women’s volleyball team fell to Marist in three sets. Following their first loss at home, the Bobcats fall to 6-15 overall and 5-3 in MAAC play.

[media-credit id=2200 align=”alignright” width=”198″][/media-credit]Quinnipiac has been without three of its four top hitters in senior Elizabeth Kloos and juniors Jen Coffey and Kat Miller for the past two games. To fill their shoes, head coach Kris Czaplinski has looked to sophomores Natalie Alechko and Kaleigh Oates and freshman Morgan Sherwin to keep the energy up.

As a result, the Bobcats were at a slight disadvantage coming into Wednesday’s contest. Quinnipiac senior Jamie Termotta has been the only upperclassman getting playing time as of recently.

“Natalie and Kaleigh are stepping up as sophomores and leaders on this team with everybody out,” Czaplinski said. “The freshmen are also settling into their spots. We just have to go back to the drawing board and figure this out until we get more people out there.”

Marist took an early first set lead as the team started the game on an 8-1 run. Despite trailing early, Quinnipiac would fight back and ties things up at 11 due in large part to the strong play by Sherwin and Alechko. After trading back-to-back points, Marist eventually took the first set 25-22.

Both teams continued to trade runs throughout the second set as neither team maintained more than a four-point lead early in the set. The Bobcats’ young roster struggled with consistency as Marist would not give up its lead, going on a seven-point run and taking the second set 25-16. Czaplinski was adamant about his team’s ability to adapt and play well with an unfamiliar rotation of players.

“Our back line was really good today in terms of passing and our serving was fantastic,” Czaplinski said. “We have to follow the game plan and follow the instruction that was given to them since day one. It’s easy to say as a coach, but when you get into a game, everything’s so quick.”

The Red Foxes’ success continued into the third set as Marist took an early 10-6 lead. Despite leading the MAAC in hitting percentage, the Bobcats struggled to get quality shots as the team finished the contest with a .062 hitting percentage, its lowest since starting MAAC play.

Although the Bobcats made a late run, Marist’s momentum was ultimately not put to a stop as the Red Foxes ended the contest, winning the third set 25-19.

[media-credit id=2200 align=”alignright” width=”207″][/media-credit]Following its first home loss of the season, the Quinnipiac women’s volleyball team resumes MAAC play when it travels to play Fairfield on Saturday at 5 p.m.

“The effort was great despite the loss,” Czaplinski said. “You look for that as a coach to have people step up when other people are hurt. That’s a huge positive going into the Fairfield game.”