vs. Glenville State |
vs. Virginia Union
Millersville, Pa. – The women's volleyball team closed out its home schedule in style. The Marauders registered back-to-back shutouts in their final two home matches of the season in a tri-match with Glenville State and Virginia Union. Millersville blanked the Pioneers in the first match and then closed the day by winning all three sets against the Panthers.
The Marauders cruised in the first match, winning by set scores of 25-13, 25-16 and 25-16 and limiting Glenville State to a .197 hitting percentage. Millersville fared much better on the offensive end, hitting .414 as a team, killing 43 attacks and committing just seven hitting errors all match. Despite winning the first set by their largest margin with a 12-point differential, the Marauders were at their strongest offensively in a final set that saw them hit .529 and commit no hitting errors with 18 kills.
Allison Huss led the Marauders on both sides of the netr, posting a double-double. Huss tallied match-highs in kills (11) and digs (11), hit .360 on 25 swings and registered two assists and a block-assist. Mary Paul added a strong effort, with nine kills on .500 hitting, two service aces and two total blocks (one solo). Jess Franz (16 assists) and Katie Pisano (14 assists) were responsible for setting up the Millersville attack. Those two also combined to add nine total service aces.
Millersville stumbled out of the gates in the second match, winning the first set by a slim 25-23 margin and allowing the Panthers to hit .346 in that set. From there, however, it was all Millersville. The Marauders coasted to second and third set victories of 25-9 and 25-16. The second set turned the tide with Millersville hitting .600 and holding Virginia Union to a .000 attack percentage. Millersville finished with a .355 attack percentage for the match.
Brittany Lease was a big catalyst in the Marauder attack, tying Huss for a match-high with nine kills. Lease hit .571 on 14 swings and added five digs. Franz tied for a match-high with 17 assists and Katie Lesinski knocked down six kill attempts and committed no errors on her nine swings.
In addition to her nine kills, Huss dug out a match-high eight attack attempts. With her 20 kills today and 278 this season, Huss needs only 15 kills to get 1,000 for her career. After getting her 1,000th career dig against Shippensburg on Tuesday, reaching 1,000 career kills would make Huss only the second Marauder in history (Jennie Rohrbaugh) to hit both milestones.
Millersville finished with an outstanding 14-7 home record and improved their overall record to 17-17 (6-11 PSAC East). The team already has three more wins than all of last year and winning one of their last two would give the Marauders their first .500 season since 2004. If Millersville can win both of its final two matches, it would be the first season over .500 since 1999.
The Marauders have six days off before playing their last two matches of the season on the road on back-to-back days. Millersville visits Lock Haven Friday night at 7 p.m. before taking on East Stroudsburg Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. These will be the biggest two matches of the season, with Millersville needing to win out and have Shippensburg finish 0-2 in PSAC play to clinch a playoff berth in the PSAC playoffs. The Red Raiders also have East Stroudsburg and Lock Haven on their schedule this week.
