Millersville University
7-11, 1-5PSAC East
Shepherd
9-10, 4-2PSAC East
Marauders drop four-set match at Shepherd
10/14/2023 12:24:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. - The Marauders fell 3-1 in Shepherdstown Friday night despite the best efforts of Taylor Welter and Emma Kerwin, who were tied for the match lead in kills. Millersville's PSAC East record fell to 1-5 with the loss.
The Marauders dug themselves a hole with a 25-17 set one loss that featured a timely 8-2 run by the Rams to seal it late. They found themselves down early in set two but kills from five different underclassmen brought the visitors to within one at 11-12. Millersville claimed their first lead of the game at 24-23, but couldn't finish it off due to an immediate 3-0 run in response by Shepherd.
With its back against the wall, Millersville put up its best showing of the night. They were down by four multiple times early on, but a five-point spurt in which they took advantage of multiple Ram errors gave the Marauders the 15-13 lead. A few points later, Emma Ludwig gave the visitors a 23-22 advantage with a clutch kill. She then proceeded to assist Kerwin on kills for the next two Marauders points and the 25-23 victory.
The Marauders went down early in the fourth set and couldn't muster a comeback even though Kerwin recorded three straight kills at one point.
The Marauders will look to avenge the loss at Shippensburg tomorrow, Oct. 14.
COACH BRIAN SMITH'S THOUGHTS
- On the match: "We competed, but we shot ourselves in the foot with unforced errors. Our sideline stats had us committing 48 unforced errors. (25 hitting, 15 zero passes and 8 service errors). It was likely one of our worst passing matches this season. It's hard to sustain runs when we are all over the place with control."
On tomorrow's match: "Tomorrow will be a tougher match as Shippensburg is ranked second in the East with only one loss and they play well at home. We will show up and compete, if we can get all aspects of the game to click better, we'll make it interesting. It's really about us needing more consistency and experience."
- With the loss, Millersville falls to 1-5 in PSAC East matchups this season and drops to seventh in the conference. Shepherd moves to third with a 4-2 record.
- Millersville's all-time record against the Rams falls to 4-9. The Marauders have lost each of the last six matchups dating back to 2019.
- Emma Kerwin and Taylor Welter each had 14 kills to lead both teams.
- The Marauders put up six total blocks but the hosts still held the advantage in that category with nine.
