FOND DU LAC - Marian University women's volleyball (6-18, 3-5 NACC) opened a busy home weekend defeating IIT 25-21, 20-25, 25-10, and 25-19.

A back-and-forth opening set saw IIT take a late 19-18 lead on the Sabres before Marian scored five unanswered points to go ahead 23-19.  The Scarlet Hawks cut the deficit down to three but Marian was able to take the set.  Marian was able to build a 12-8 lead in the second set but IIT responded with a 9-1 run to take a four-point advantage.  The Sabres were able to trim the IIT lead down to 22-20 only to have the Scarlet Hawks score the final three points of the set and even the sets.

The Sabres then dominated the final two sets of the night opening with a 25-10 win in the third.  Marian scored 10 unanswered points with freshman Lauren Massie at the service line as part of a 13-2 start to the set.  The Sabres hit .257 in the set and held IIT to a -.088 hitting percentage for the set.  Illinois Tech opened the fourth with a 13-11 lead but another solid run helped give Marian the lead.  Marian would outscore IIT 13-3 to take a 24-16 advantage and ended the match on a kill from sophomore Riley Shores.  It was the best offensive set of the night for Marian in the fourth recording 14 kills.

Junior Kaitlyn Merrill led the offense with a match-high 15 kills, while fellow junior Serina Pehowski had 14 kills off of a .407 hitting percentage to go with three total blocks.  In the back row, junior Reagan Jasica had 26 digs, and another junior in Anna Tapia had 16 digs as part of a double-double with 31 assists.  Senior Andrea Miller added 12 digs along with a pair of service aces.

Marian takes on Concordia Wisconsin and No. 13 UW-Eau Claire beginning at noon tomorrow, Saturday, October 15.