Millersville, Pa. - Not a single player on Millersville's roster had postseason experience but you never would have known that as the team that entered the PSAC Tournament as the No. 7 seed pushed the No. 2-seeded Shippensburg Raiders to the brink in front of a partisan crowd at Heiges Field House. Millersville battled to a take a 2-1 lead after Shippensburg won the first, but Shippensburg rallied and won sets four and five, coming from behind in both (25-18, 22-25, 18-25, 25-18, 19-17).

Millersville (16-12) was making its first PSAC Tournament appearance since 2013 while Shippensburg entered the tournament ranked No. 3 in the Atlantic Region and boosted its record to 25-6 after Tuesday's win.

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
• Shippensburg managed to neutralize Millersville's top attacker Jayci Suseland in the first set, and after Millersville narrowed the deficit to 16-12, Shippensburg went on 5-1 run and continued to pull away. The Marauders hit just .062 in the first while Shippensburg posted 16 kills to five errors.
• Shippensburg was on the verge of opening a 2-0 lead, holding a 19-16 advantage in the second set. Millersville, however, scored three in a row to tie the match at 19. Then, trailing 22-20, Millersville closed the set with five in a row, using kills from Haley Butler and Suseland and an ace from Samantha Miller.
• The third set was all Millersville. The Marauders led by as many as nine and built a 19-10 lead at one point. Millersville hit .214 in the set while Ship committed nine errors and hit .020.
• The Raiders reversed course in the fourth, posting 19 kills to two errors.
• Millersville opened the fifth with four consecutive kills by Suseland, and a Ship error put the Marauders up, 5-1. A timeout halted the Marauders' run and Ship rallied to tie the set. A kill by Lindsey Blevins put Millersville within two points of the win at 13-10, but Ship answered with four in a row. Millersville reached match point twice at 15-14 and 16-15, but Ship staved off both. With the set tied at 17-17, Ship escaped with back-to-back Marauder errors.

COACH BRIAN SMITH QUOTES
• "I am definitely pleased. We played well. We got handled in the first set and came back and battled. Those last sets were going to be that way. We showed a lot of character."
• "We were slowing them down on the outside. We had to make adjustments, and we've done that all year long. When you look at a 19-17 score in the fifth set against a quality team like (Ship), you know it was a quality match."
• "We had so many young players out there. This a tremendous learning opportunity. I hope that this bothers (the players) deeply that with just a little bit more we could have gotten it done. Shippensburg is a seasoned team with a lot of juniors and seniors and all-conference players. I am proud of this season and the players. When you are a seven-seed you are going to play in a hostile environment. All things considered, I am thrilled. It is just going to take an hour or so to digest it."
• "This was a great season for the players. They will look back after this and realize what a good step this was for the program."

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
• Suseland led the Marauders with 22 kills (.197) and three block assists. Butler provided 15 kills to four errors, hitting .229.
• Lindsey Blevins totaled a career-high 32 career high digs to go with 11 kills. It was her 15th double-double of the season. Blevins also totaled a career-high four service aces.
• Kat Forry totaled a season-high 33 digs. 
• Katie Laughman, the reigning PSAC Southeast Athlete of the Week, totaled 48 assists and 14 digs.

NOTES
• Millersville's .611 (11-7) conference winning percentage was its best since 1999, and the Marauders won their first PSAC division title since the same year.
• Suseland posted 20-plus kills for the third time in the last six matches, boosting her season total to 385, which ranks fourth-most in Millersville history.
• Laughman finished her season with 1,013 assists--a total which ranks sixth in program history.

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