EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. - The Millersville women's volleyball team added a signature win to its NCAA Atlantic Region resume Friday night. The Marauders, who were ranked sixth in the initial regional rankings, went on the road and scored a 3-1 (18-25, 25-20, 25-21, 25-16) victory over fifth-ranked East Stroudsburg. 

Powered by 20 Jayci Suseland kills, the Marauders bounced back from a slow start to total 51 kills and a .226 hitting percentage while also controlling the net. East Stroudsburg entered as the PSAC's leader in blocks but managed just six to Millersville's 10. 

The win boosted Millersville's record to 21-7 overall and 11-4 in the PSAC, staying one match behind Shepherd (and now East Stroudsburg) and one ahead of Seton Hill in fifth place in the PSAC standings. 

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS
• The Marauders rolled in the final three sets, shaking off a slow start in set one. Of ESU's first 16 points, eight came on Millersville errors--a combination of hitting, service and receiving. Millersville helped East Stroudsburg to 12 of its 25 points in the first. But that changed in the second. Millersville held a slight 17-14 lead but started to pull away with kills from Carley Baughman and Suseland and a block by Katie Laughman. The Marauders built their advantage to as many as seven before closing out the 25-20 win with a kill from Chyna Gubbings. 
• Millersville's performance in the third and fourth sets were brilliant, totaling 28 kills to five errors. The Marauders finished the third set and took a 2-1 lead in convincing fashion. With the score tied 21-21, Haley Butler and Lindsey Blevins recorded back-to-back kills. A timeout from ESU couldn't slow the Marauders as they scored the next two points as well. 
• The fourth set turned early, as Millersville ripped off a 5-1 run to build a 13-7 lead and led by no fewer than four points the rest of the way. The Marauders scored on the final five rallies as well, ending the match with back-to-back aces from Baughman. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• A key to the Marauders' success was keeping Baughman and Suseland on the court. The two, generally subbed out for serves, stayed on the floor and not only made a difference at the net combining for eight block assists, they also combined for three service aces. 
• Suseland posted a .400 hitting percentage, committing just four errors to her match-high 20 kills. 
• Laughman turned in an all-around performance with 43 assists, two kills on two attempts, two total blocks, an ace and eight digs. 
• Kat Forry led the Marauders with 20 digs. Blevins added 16 and Emily Hoffman totaled 13. 

COACH BRIAN SMITH'S THOUGHTS
• On the team's attitude going into the match: "They were calm. That was our strategy. I didn't want to hype up the match. It's easy to get caught up in playing a good team down the stretch. This win was more important to us than it was to them based on their schedule the rest of the way. We didn't overhype it on purpose. We said, 'Let's go out, not worry about the match, just this rally.' We had a slow start, some ball control stuff. We gave them half of those points on errors. We reminded the team to stay the course, fix our control, keep swinging and get into the game."
• On bouncing back after the first set: "It shows a lot of maturity. Wanted to have short memories. It almost felt surgical. No one got rattled, no one went in the tank. They played really well as a team. The communication but verbally and non-verbally was good."
• On the performance of Suseland: "She had a monster of game. We had her serve and she served at well. (East Stroudsburg was) having to rely more on their middle attackers but we were getting points from ours tonight. Their middles did well so we saw the swing in momentum going away from their outside hitters. It's worth noting that Millersville out-blocked the No.1 blocking team in the conference. That was big for us and gave us confidence. We made some good adjustments and had players who played up."

NOTES
• Laughman recorded her 3,000th career assist during the match, joining Missy Rauhauser (1991-94) and Jena Ilus (1995-98) as only the third player in program history to hit that milestone. 
• Suseland recorded 20 kills for the second time this season and it was her most kills in a match since Sept. 28. 
• Millersville has now totaled 50 or more kills 10 times this season. 

UP NEXT
• Millersville remains on the road, traveling to Kutztown on Saturday before finishing the regular season with three consecutive home matches.