EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – For the third consecutive weekend Millersville has split its pair of PSAC East matches, as the Marauders fell to the East Stroudsburg Warriors in straight sets.
 
Millersville (12-9, 3-4 PSAC) was unable to find its footing following a sweep of Kutztown on Friday night.  With the loss, 'Ville falls to sixth in the PSAC East standings. East Stroudsburg (12-8, 6-1 PSAC) moved into sole possession of first place in the East following the victory. The Warriors remain one of two teams in the entire PSAC with only one loss, as PSAC West leading Clarion (7-0) is the only unbeaten team in conference play.

HOW IT HAPPENED
(25-19, 25-16, 25-17)

• Millersville led to open the first set, working to a 16-14 advantage. Kylie Airesman led the way for the offense as she picked up four kills early on. A seven-point Warrior rally put ESU ahead for good as the Marauders went from a two-point lead to a four-point deficit.
• The Warriors took the second set in thanks to a pair of four-point rally's that ended up being the difference.  Play was fairly even without either side producing a large rally. The Marauders struggled to close the gap throughout the set, as the 'Ville only had one rally of three or more points. Rose Vail paced the Marauder offense with four kills in the set.
• The third set was the most back and forth of the match. With 'Ville ahead 6-5, ESU rattled off four straight points to take a 9-6 lead. Trailing 11-8, the Marauders put together their biggest rally of the day, scoring six straight points to take a 13-11 lead. Caroline Halsey led the charge with a pair of aces from the service line. Following the rally, the Warriors would take eight of the next 10 points, re-taking the lead for good. ESU closed the set with six of the final eight points to secure the sweep.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Vail (11) led the team in kills as she reached double-figures for the second straight match and seventh time this season.
• Rylee Thomas recorded a team high three blocks. Coming off a career high six blocks against Kutztown, she has now recorded three or more blocks in six of the last seven matches.
• Emma Ludwig recorded 25 assists. She has now reached 20+ assists in 20 of the teams 21 matches this season.
• Becca Dalstad collected 14 digs, reaching double-figures for the 18^th time this season.

REACTION FROM HEAD COACH BRIAN SMITH
On the overall match: "We had a bad offensive performance. I think we had a very slight edge passing, we started sets one and two with leads, but when you have 29 total kills but 20 hitting errors to go along with that it's not going to produce a win.
 
ESU had a good day offensively, most teams if not all in the East are bigger.
Our success comes when most of our game is clicking, and our hitting wasn't today.  All we can do is show up and work hard each time and compete. It wasn't a lack of competing today it was below average execution. 
 
It's a crazy year in the East, we started the day tied for third and ended it in sixth place. It's really easy to see how a win this Tuesday at West Chester could put us back in third, but nothing is predictable this year. Our goal is to fight till the end and see where we are at."
 
UP NEXT

• The Marauders conclude their three-game road stand at West Chester on Tuesday, Oct. 11. First serve is set for 7 p.m. The team returns home on Saturday, Oct. 15 against Dominican College at 1 p.m.