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Millersville

Volleyball celebrating

Marauders welcome conference foe Shepherd

| By: Wes Champlin, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant
  • Series: 4-9
  • Series Streak: Shepherd, 6
  • First Meeting: L, 1–3 (2009)
  • Last Meeting: L, 1-3 (2023)

ABOUT THE MATCH

  • Millersville plays host to the Shepherd Rams on Friday night in Pucillo Gymnasium. The Marauders enter with a record of 8-13 on the season and a 2-6 mark in conference competition, good for sixth. The Rams come into the match with a 10-12 record and a 5-3 record in PSAC play, which puts them third in the East.
  • Millersville Head Coach Brian Smith is looking for his 200th victory. He currently sits on 199 career collegiate victories as a head coach.

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

  • Millersville comes in looking to make it three straight home victories over PSAC East teams after sweeping the Golden Rams on October 18.
  • Emma Kerwin and Taylor Welter will lead the attack. Kerwin leads the team in total kills with 278 on the season, which also ranks sixth in the PSAC. Welter is second on the team with 185 after missing a few matches earlier this season.
  • Welter ranks ninth in the PSAC in kills per set at 3.30, and has been effective off of the bench since her return from injury. She's reached double digits in putaways in each of the last seven matches dating back to Oct. 6 against Lock Haven and has paced the team in each of their last two contests.
  • Elizabeth Villegas, Madison Von Neida, and Paige Horst are key for the team's receiving defense. Villegas is the team's libero and leads the team in digs with 364. She's tied for fifth in the conference with Claire Ellis, Shepherd's libero. Von Neida saw time at libero earlier this season but has been used more as a service specialist since.
  • Millersville had a rough go of it at the net against New Haven, recording only one block. Madison Williams, Sam White and Caroline Halsey will look to establish their presence more effectively in this match. Halsey and White are one and two on the team in total blocks with 36 and 24, respectively. White recorded the lone rejection in that last match.
  • Emma Ludwig leads the team in assists and is coming off of a match in which she recorded a double-double, totaling 30 assists and 12 digs. Her 777 dishes puts her at fourth in the PSAC. She's also made an impact defensively with 227 digs and 24 total blocks, which rank second and third on the squad, respectively. 

SCOUTING THE RAMS

  • Coming off a 2022 season in which they won the PSAC East, the Rams have had a bit of a down year. They're below .500 overall at 10-12 but sport a record of 5-3 in conference play. 
  • The Rams' identity over the past few seasons under coach Alex Hoekstra has been centered around owning the net. They led Division II in blocks per set in each of the past two seasons but have fallen to third in the PSAC this year. 
  • Their key net players are Renee Killough, Joi Fairweather and Sophia Ryan. Killough, a member of the 2022 All-PSAC East First Team, is second in the PSAC in blocks and blocks per set with 105 and 1.31. Fairweather is second on the team with 68 and Ryan is third with 64. All three are top 15 in the PSAC in both categories. 
  • The defense behind the front line is led by 2022 All-PSAC East First Team member and 2022 PSAC East Defensive Player of the Year Claire Ellis, who leads the team with 364 digs. She's tied with Millersville's Elizabeth Villegas for fifth in the PSAC. 
  • Shepherd's setter is Victoria Nicholes, who has racked up 555 assists so far. 

THE LAST TIME OUT

  • Millersville: Millersville 0, New Haven 3 (Oct. 20, 2023) - With Brian Smith away for the night, the Marauders hosted New Haven in a non-conference contest. They were swept unceremoniously after doing the same to West Chester earlier in the week. Taylor Welter led the team in kills in both matches and recorded 14 against the Chargers.
  • Shepherd:  Shepherd 1, Shippensburg 3 (Oct. 20, 2023) - Shepherd fell to second-place Shippensburg last Friday in four sets. Jordan Pryor and Sophia Ryan each recorded 11 kills for the Rams and Renee Killough added nine kills and nine blocks. The team recorded 12 kills in the loss but hit just .135. 

SERIES HISTORY

  • This is the second and final meeting of the 2023 season between these two schools. Shepherd beat Millersville 3-1 in Shepherdstown on October 13 in fairly convincing fashion.   The Marauders made the middle two sets close and claimed the third, but unforced errors were the culprit yet again as the other two games were decided by seven or more points.
  • Throughout the rest of the series, Shepherd has held a significant advantage. Millersville's record is 4-9 all time against this conference opponent and has dropped each of the past six meetings. 
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