Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Millersville women's volleyball scored a convincing sweep (25-7, 25-13, 25-17) over Shaw before pushing No. 15-ranked Palm Beach Atlantic in a tightly-contested four-set match (24-26, 25-23, 25-20, 26-24), closing out the opening weekend of the season at Nova Southeastern University. 

Millersville closed the season's opening weekend with a 1-3 record. Two of the losses came to nationally-ranked teams and the other came in five sets to Nova Southeastern, which was playing on its home court. 

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS: MILLERSVILLE VS. SHAW
•  Millersville totaled 40 kills to Shaw's 18, hitting .316 to Shaw's .000. The Marauders also piled up nine service aces. Emily Hoffman's three and Rebecca Dalstad's two led the way. 
•  Lindsey Blevins posted eight kills without an error, and Jayci Suseland added eight kills on 18 swings. Katie Laughman posted 29 assists and 11 digs. Kat Forry led the team with 12 digs. 
•  After Shaw took a 2-1 lead early in the first set, Millersville scored 12 of the next 13 points, a run that included six kills. Shaw finally broke Millersville's run to make the score 12-4, but Millersville then scored 12 consecutive points in a run that included six kills and two aces. 
•  In set two, Millersville held a narrow 14-12 lead before a Chyna Gubbings kill sparked a 6-0 Millersville run. Millersville scored 11 of the final 12 points to pull away. Similarly, the Marauders ran away late in the third set after the match was tied at 9-9. Carly Baughman recorded two kills and Blevins added a kill as part of five consecutive points. The Marauders led by no fewer than four points the rest of the way. 

MATCH HIGHLIGHTS: MILLERSVILLE VS. PALM BEACH ATLANTIC
• Blevins recorded 21 kills (.293) and 15 digs while Haley Butler added 14 (.286) and Laughman totaled 46 assists and 16 digs but it wasn't enough against the nationally-ranked Sailfish. The match featured 18 lead changes and 32 tied scores, and two of the sets went to extra points. Millersville out-hit the Sailfish .237-.221 but Palm Beach Atlantic held a 12-5 edge in service aces. 
• Four errors from Palm Beach Atlantic and four kills helped the Marauders race to an 8-2 lead early in the first set. The Sailfish, however, closed the gap, took the lead at 18-17 and led as late as 24-22. Millersville fought off set point, though, receiving back-to-back kills from Blevins to tie the match and an ace from Emily Hoffman to take the lead. Blevins polished off four points in a row and a set win with another kill. 
• In set two, it was Palm Beach Atlantic that jumped out to the early lead, holding a 20-13 advantage before Millersville mounted a comeback. Blevins again provided the offense with back-to-back kills. A Suseland kill and attack error made it 24-23. The Sailfish managed to close out the set and even the match at 1-1 with a kill from Jennie Anderson. Set three was also evenly played with neither team leading by more than three points until Palm Beach Atlantic used a kill, Millersville error and service ace to close a 25-20 win on a 3-0 run. 
• The deciding fourth set featured 16 ties and 11 lead changes with neither team leading by more than three. Down 23-22, the Marauders scored two in a row on a kill from Chyna Gubbings and a bad set by Palm Beach Atlantic, taking the lead and a chance to serve for the set. Sailfish Sam Wolf tied the set with a kill and Anderson followed with an ace. The match ended on a Millersville ball handling error. 

THOUGHTS FROM COACH BRIAN SMITH
• On building confidence with the one over Shaw: "It was good to get that win. We expected to win. We just tried to go into it staying focused and execute. We misfired a few things yesterday and we were able to look at those things and improve on them." 
• On the close match with Palm Beach Atlantic: "Every set could have gone either way. It was the most satisfying loss I have ever experienced at Millersville. We played a ranked team in Lewis in our first match and went in tight and focused on how good we had to be instead of playing as a team. We had a poor showing. This was the redo for us--the chance to see what we can be as a team. We might not face a tougher team the rest of the season. Our players worked hard and competed the entire match. To see us go from not showing well against Lewis to taking a top level team to the end of every single set was satisfying. It was a back-and-forth match and a great experience for us to get to play at that level."
• Thoughts of standout performances: "A bright spot was the play of our freshmen middles against a really good team--Amanda Neessen and Carly Baughman. (Laughman) did a really good job running our offense, making adjustments during the match. (Blevins) had a really good final match. (Butler) had a good weekend. It is going to be a long time before we see the caliber of teams we saw, and to go from not playing well in the first match to challenging a ranked team today, it was really rewarding." 

NOTES
• Forry eclipsed 1,000 career kills in Friday's late match and moved up to ninth place all-time with 1,059. 
• Laughman has recorded a double-double in all four matches of the 2019 season. 
• Blevins' 21 kills against Palm Beach Atlantic were one away from her career high and it was the fourth time in her career that she has tallied 20 or more in a match. 

UP NEXT
•  Millersville makes its home debut on Tuesday, Sept. 10 against Jefferson. Match time is 7 p.m.