ABOUT THE MARAUDERS
• Thursday is an historical day for the Millersville women's volleyball team, which plays its first NCAA Tournament match since 1995. While it has been 24 years since the Marauders have played in the NCAA Tournament, it has only been 20 days since the Marauders and Shippensburg Raiders last met. Thursday's match is the 2019 rubber match between the programs as both one on home floor earlier this season.
• Millersville enters the tournament with a 25-8 record and the most wins in program history. In its last match, Millersville was knocked out of the PSAC Tournament in four sets by Shepherd. It was Millersville's first home loss in 14 months. Shepherd's dominance at the net was the difference, totaling 15 blocks and limiting PSAC Athlete of the Year
Jayci Suseland to 11 kills and the team to a .133 hitting percentage--its third-lowest of the season.
• Shippensburg will likely employ a similar game plan against the Marauders, but not many teams have had success in slowing down Suseland. The Marauder senior set a single-season record for kills with 441 (breaking a 24-year-old record) and owns the PSAC's best hitting percentage at .330. Suseland was the first Marauder to be named the PSAC's athlete of the year since 2001 and the only Marauder to win without the Eastern/Western division split.
•
Lindsey Blevins is playing some of her best volleyball of the season of late. The two-time All-PSAC selection recently recorded her 1,000th career kill, and in her last four matches, she has averaged 16.5 kills and 12.8 digs per match.
• Setter
Katie Laughman ranks fourth in the PSAC in assists per set and was named All-PSAC Second Team. Her 1,197 also set a Millersville record, and her 3,204 career assists and 1,342 career digs ranks third and sixth all-time.
• Freshman
Carley Baughman has also been a key contributor, leading the team with 90 total blocks and 79 block assists--the sixth-most in a season at Millersville. Fellow freshman
Rebecca Dalstad leads the team in service aces with 42. She tallied three in the PSAC Tournament match against Shepherd and three in the Nov. 15 win over Shippensburg.
• Millersville's strength is its efficiency. The Marauders rank second in the PSAC and 35th nationally in hitting percentage at .233. The Marauders are 19-0 when hitting .240 or higher and 1-6 when hitting under .200.
• Millersville went 5-3 against teams in the Atlantic Regional and 5-4 against teams in the NCAA Tournament field. The season opener was a loss to Midwest Region No. 1 seed Lewis.
NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Appearances (Record): 1 (1-1)
Last Appearance: 1995
SERIES HISTORY
Series vs. Shippensburg: 28-40
Series Streak: Ville, 1
First Meeting: 1990 (L, 0-3)
Last Meeting: 2019 (W, 3-2)
Last 10 Meetings: 3-7
Brian Smith vs. Ship: 4-17
• On Nov. 15, Millersville scored 30 points in sets two and four and edged Shippensburg in five sets (15-25, 30-28, 14-25, 30-28, 15-9). Millersville recorded a season-high 63 kills with four Marauders hitting double-figures.
Haley Butler recorded 15 and Blevins totaled 13 of her 17 in the fourth and fifth sets. Suseland led the team with 18 and
Carley Baughman totaled 12. Statistically, the Raiders dominated the match, totaling 96 points to Millersville's 74 and 78 kills to Millersville's 63.
• Twenty days earlier at Shippensburg, the Raiders swept the Marauders, 25-21, 25-19, 28-26. The Raiders out-hit Millersville .243 to .170 and limited Suseland to eight kills and a .143 hitting percentage. Gabriella Johnson and Samantha Webber combined for 27 kills and five errors.
• Shippensburg has gone 21-4 against Millersville since the start of the 2006 season. The all-time postseason record between the teams is 2-2 with Shippensburg winning in the PSAC Tournament in 2013 (3-0) and 2018 (3-2) and Millersville winning in 1992 (3-2) and 1993 (3-2). The teams have never met in the NCAA Tournament.
SCOUTING THE RAIDERS
• Since Sept. 27, the Raiders are 18-3 with their only losses coming at Gannon (the No. 2 seed in the Atlantic Region), at Millersville and against eventual PSAC champ East Stroudsburg on a neutral floor. The Raiders are plenty familiar with the postseason, having reached the NCAA Tournament in four consecutive seasons and in five of the last six. Shippensburg, however, has not won a NCAA Tournament match since 2013 and that stands as the only NCAA win in the program's history.
• Shippensburg placed five players on the All-PSAC teams--the most for the program in 12 years. Setter Emily Hangen and middle hitter Samantha Webber were first team selections. Gabriella Johnson was named to the second team and Megan Forstburg and Kendal Johnson were third team picks. Hangen is the PSAC leader and ranks fifth nationally in total assists with 1,332. Webber enters the tournament just behind Suseland in the PSAC rankings for hitting percentage with a .328 mark.
• Shippensburg ranks second in the PSAC in kills per set (13.61) while also leading the league in digs per set (20.02).
