Huntington, Ind. – The Marian volleyball team suffered their third loss of the season on the road Wednesday night to Huntington University, dropping the Knights to 17-3 overall and 9-3 in Crossroads League play.
Marian struggled to get anything rolling in set one, dropping to an early 9-2 deficit. The Knights managed to only score nine points in the opening set, while Huntington had no problems coming out the gates hot. The hosts executed on the Marian's errors and posted 11 kills to the Knights six, taking set one 25-9.
Set two was better for the Knights, but they still found it hard to get anything going after the Foresters got out to an 18-9 lead. The visitors had a bit of a spark late in the set, scoring three straight points behind an Huntington error and a kill by Avery Toole and Jai-Lyn Norwood. With the momentum going to Marian's side of the net, the Knights managed to get within one at 23-22. However, even after a little momentum shift by the Knights, Huntington brought back their attack and finished off the set 25-23.
Huntington jumped out to the early lead yet again in set three at 5-2, before the two teams traded points back and forth until the Knights gained their first lead of the game behind two kills from Skyler Van Note, Grace Hunter and Madison Brooks to give Marian the 10-8 lead. The rest of set proved to be a battle with both sides going point for point until things were even at 23-23. Norwood got the kill to put Marian at set point, but the Foresters bounced back and scored the next three points to take the set and match 26-24.
The Knights were led by Norwood's 10 kills, while Van Note added nine kills and nine digs. Toole posted eight kills and eight digs with Brooks notching five kills and two blocks. Gianna Feld led on the defense with 12 digs, while Ainsley Neighbors had a team-high 17 assists and Katie Hardegree had a double-double with 16 assists and 10 digs.
Marian will be back in action on October 19 as they travel to Goshen for a 7 PM first serve.
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