Marauders Roll to Mount Olive Tournament Championship

Saturday, September 8

Mount Olive, NC

11 AM

Millersville University

4-3

Virginia State University

0-4

Virginia State

Millersville

Marauders Roll to Mount Olive Tournament Championship

9/8/2012 6:25:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Mount Olive, N.C. – Neither of the two Trojan armies Millersville faced on the second day of the Mount Olive College Tournament could spoil the Marauders new five-match win streak, as the team won both matches against Virginia State and Mount Olive, respectively. With the wins, Millersville was crowned champion of the two-day tournament, improving the team's record to 5-3 in 2012.

After getting off to a 0-3 start to the season, the women's volleyball team appears to be picking up steam. Jessica Franz was named Tournament MVP, and Franz and Brooklyn Smith collected All-Tournament Team honors for their performances over the weekend. The Marauders finished 4-0 with the best record in the five-team field.

Millersville swept through Virginia State in its first match. That 3-0 decision, along with a first-set victory in the match against Mount Olive allowed the Marauders set win streak reach 13 before dropping the second set to Mount Olive. Set scores from the Marauders' sweep of Virginia State read: 25-17, 25-8 and 25-14.

In the first match of the day, Rebecca Roman paced the Marauder offense with 11 kills, while Kayla Wallace hit an efficient .600 on her kill attempts and Smith served up three aces. Franz (17) and Katie Pisano (10) facilitated the offensive attack, combining for 27 assists. Defensively, Rhianna Kalescky tallied three total blocks.

Mount Olive would prove a more formidable opponent for the Marauders, as three of the five sets were true, win-by-two scores. Millersville got off to a 1-0 start with a 25-20 win in set one before falling behind, 2-1.

The Trojans stormed back with wins of 26-24 and 25-23 before the Marauders answered with their largest margin of victory in the match in the fourth set, 25-14. The fifth set was a nail-biter and went down to the wire, but Millersville was too strong for Mount Olive, coming away with a 16-14 win to seal the Tournament Championship.

The Marauders boasted a balanced attack with three players in double figures in the kills department. Katie Lesinski smashed 14 kills, Wallace finished on 12 attempts and Katelyn Ort knocked down 10 to round out the Millersville attack. Wallace and Ort hit at a .333 clip. Franz cranked out 36 assists in the match to lead the team. Sue Caramanico led the team with seven service aces.

The trio of Smith (18), Caramanico (10) and Lesinski (eight) were able to dig out 36 total kill attempts on the back line, as the Marauder defense withstood a 22-kill effort from Mount Olive's Sarah Robertson. Robertson was a thorn in the Marauders' side all match, hitting .500 on 38 swings. In addition to the 60 digs, Millersville also had six total blocks as a team, with three each coming from Roman (one solo, two assists), Lesinski (three assists) and Emily Kaledas (three assists).

Millersville has a week off before traveling to Pepper Pike, Ohio to battle the Dolphins of LeMoyne and the Ursuline Arrows on Sept. 15. The LeMoyne match begins at 1 p.m., and the Ursuline match follows at 3 p.m. The Marauders don't return home until Saturday, Sept. 22, when the team takes on Mercyhurst in a 12 p.m. start.