FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - The opening day of the 2019 Millersville University women's volleyball season saw the Marauders drop a 3-0 (25-6, 25-18, 25-10) decision to No. 7-ranked Lewis before falling 3-2 (23-25, 16-25, 25-28, 25-13, 15-12) in a hard-fought five-set match with tournament host Nova Southeastern. 

Senior setter Katie Laughman made some history in the late match, totaling 1,000 career digs to become only the third player in program history with 2,000 assists and 1,000 digs. 

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS: MILLERSVILLE VS. LEWIS 
•  Lewis finished the 2018 season in the NCAA Semifinals and opened 2019 as the preseason favorite to win the GLVC. The Flyers scored three-set wins over Millersville and Shaw on Thursday. The Marauders' 18 points scored in set two were the most scored against Lewis in its six sets played. 
•  Lewis controlled the net, totaling eight blocks and forcing Millersville into 15 hitting errors compared to just 12 kills. Lewis, meanwhile, totaled 43 kills to just 14 errors. Alexandra Preuss and Colleen Wilhem shared the team-lead with 11. Lewis also totaled 10 aces while freshman Carly Baughman recorded Millersville's lone ace. 
•  Millersville found its most success in the second set with Baughman and Jayci Suseland recording two kills apiece and sharing a block. 
•  Laughman finished with a double-double of 10 assists and 10 digs. 

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS: MILLERSVILLE VS. NOVA SOUTHEASTERN
• Millersville built a two-set lead before Nova Southeastern, playing on its home court, stole momentum in set three and rolled to three consecutive set wins. The Sharks totaled 13 blocks to Millersville's six and out-hit the Marauders .257-.193. The Sharks also held a decisive advantage in service, totaling 14 service aces including 10 in their three victorious sets. 
• Millersville trailed only once in the first set, and led the second set all the way after taking a 3-2 lead on a run of three-straight Suseland kills. Millersville led by as many as seven at 17-10 after four consecutive kills. 
• The tide turned in favor of Nova Southeastern in the third. A pair of Shark errors made the score 17-16, but the Sharks scored three consecutive points on two kills and a Millersville miscue, and went on to outscore the Marauders 8-2 of the final 10 rallies including the final three points of the set. Nova Southeastern opened the fourth set with a run of 10 consecutive points, building a 12-1 lead. The Sharks served up three aces in that stretch and Millersville miscues gave the Sharks four more points in that stretch. 
• The fifth set was tied at 10-10 before a kill from Gabby Bauch and two Marauder attack errors gave the Sharks a three-point edge. Millersville cut the deficit to 13-12 on a Bauch error and a Lindsey Blevins kill, but Bauch responded, and the match ended on a Marauder attack error. 
• Suseland and Blevins provided the bulk of Millersville's offense, totaling 19 and 17 kills respectively. Suseland tallied 16 kills to two errors in sets two three and four but came up empty in set five. Blevins recorded five of her kills in the decisive fifth set. 

THOUGHTS FROM COACH BRIAN SMITH
• On what the team learned from the Lewis match: "We can learn a lot from that. We are starting one freshman defensive player and freshmen middles right now. That might be the toughest team we face the entire year. It's good to see teams like that. They expose your weaknesses. We can get a lot of notes on areas we are struggling with. Sometimes it was ball control or passing and when we cleaned that up, we struggled to score. We have to take a look at that, do some things different offensively and move things around."
• On where was the turning point against Nova Southeastern: "Both of those first two sets were hard fought sets. We earned those two sets. We played well. Coming off that schooling from Lewis we took the approach of not overthinking it. We are down here to learn and play tough teams. We left (our players) alone and they came together as a team. In the third set--and I warned them--I thought we started to lose some mental focus. It was even for the first half of the set, and then (Nova Southeastern) got a three or four point lead. We had to work through it, but we tightened up a little bit. The fourth set was most disappointing. They blocked better, worked harder and had more confidence than we did. But with the way we fought back late, we felt good going into the fifth set. Those can go either way at any given time."
• On evaluating the team's performance: "A lot of it is consistency. We aren't using everyone we did last year in the same capacity. There were times where we would pass two or three good balls and then would shank one. We have to shave off a few errors. Against Lewis, we gave away 20 points. We have to eliminate that. We aren't happy that we lost two but we are getting out of this experience what we hoped to get out of it. We are playing teams as good as we will face all year. It's a great experience because when we get into conference play against a team like Shippensburg and get to a fifth set, we've already done it. If we play a weak team and win in three, there isn't much to learn about character. We had to be tested before we get into conference play because it will help us make adjustments that will make us better."

NOTES
•  Laughman joined Meredith Sinback (2006-09) and Jena Ilus (1995-98) as the lone members of Millersville's 2,000/1,000 club. She also moved into sixth place in career assists, now with 2,056. 
•  It was the first time in program history that Millersville has faced Lewis and Nova Southeastern. 
•  Freshmen Carly Baughman, Kylie Airesman and Amanda Neessen all started both matches. 

UP NEXT
Millersville closes playing in Fort Lauderdale Saturday against Shaw at 12 p.m., and 15th-ranked Palm Beach Atlantic at 2:30 p.m. The match against Palm Beach Atlantic will be live streamed here.