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Millersville

Alex Nava

Marauders kick off make-or-break weekend against Lock Haven

| By: Wes Champlin, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant
  • Series: 13-17
  • Series Streak: Lock Haven, 1
  • First Meeting: W, 3–0 (1991)
  • Last Meeting: L, 1–3 (2023)

ABOUT THE MATCH

  • Millersville plays host to the Lock Haven Bald Eagles on Friday night in Pucillo Gymnasium. The Marauders enter with a record of 9-17 on the season and a 3-9 mark in conference competition. The Bald Eagles come into the match with a 10-11 record and a 4-8 record in PSAC play.
  • The Marauders need to sweep both matches this weekend in order to clinch a playoff spot. Coming into the match they are tied for sixth in the PSAC East Division with West Chester and Kutztown. The Bald Eagles are tied for fourth in the conference with Bloomsburg, who Millersville hosts on Saturday. 
  • If the Marauders beat both Lock Haven and Bloomsburg 3-0, they will clinch a playoff spot. If they sweep one match and win 3-2 in the second, then they will not make the playoffs, as the first tiebreaker is set differential in head-to-head matchups. Millersville lost each of their previous matches against Lock Haven and Bloomsburg, so a sweep is necessary in both matches to have sole posession of the final playoff spot. In a situation where one match is 3-1 and one is a sweep, then it would come down to the next set of tiebreaks. 

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

  • Millersville comes in to this final weekend of the regular season needing a sweep in both matches to clinch a playoff spot.
  • Emma Kerwin and Taylor Welter make up two-thirds of the Millersville attack. Kerwin leads the team in total kills with 327 on the season, which also ranks sixth in the PSAC. Welter is second on the team with 236 after missing a few matches earlier this season. She also ranks 10th in the PSAC in kills per set at 3.15, and is coming off of one of her best matches of the season last weekend against Kutztown. Welter put up 16 kills (one off of her season-high) and hit .424 in just three sets.
  • Freshman Alex Nava is the final mainstay of the Marauder attack and has been a revelation for Brian Smith over the past few weeks. After reaching double-digits in kills just once over her first 12 matches of 2023, she's reached that mark in each of the last five contests. She has hit efficiently throughout that stretch as well, never posting a hitting percentage lower than .205.
  • 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 442. She's fourth in the PSAC with that mark. Von Neida saw time at libero earlier this season but has been used more as a service and defensive specialist since.
  • Madison Williams, Sam White and Caroline Halsey will rotate on the Marauder front line. Halsey and White are one and two on the team in total blocks with 42 and 28, respectively.
  • Emma Ludwig leads the team in assists with 946, a mark that puts her third in the PSAC. She's also made an impact defensively with 277 digs and 24 total blocks, which both rank second on the squad. Before Nov. 4's match against Kutztown she had been on a five-game double-double streak.

SCOUTING THE BALD EAGLES

  • Lock Haven sports an overall record of 10-11 to pair with a 4-8 conference mark and enters this match having lost four consecutive contests dating back to Oct. 27. 
  • The team's record is a vast improvement on the one game they won last season, a testament to both the team and first-year head coach Mike Kraft. 
  • Their attack features a balanced approach, as they have no players with more than 160 total kills on the season. Evie Jane Reimbold ranks first with 152 while second place Emma Kelly has 145. Kelly won PSAC East Offensive Athlete of the Week earlier this season. 
  • Reimbold has been a force at the net as well. She also leads the team in total blocks with 47.0. Alyssa Daley and Kyleigh McDermit are the two other main players in that phase, as they sit second and third on the team with 37.0 and 31.0, respectively. 
  • The defense behind the front line is led by libero Madison Eckley as well as Natalie Acevedo. Acevedo is tops on the Bald Eagles in digs with 227 with Eckley right behind her at 222. 
  • Lock Haven's setter is Kelly Gaston, who's racked up 638 assists so far. She took home PSAC East Player of the Week honors earlier this season. 

THE LAST TIME OUT

  • Millersville: Millersville 0, Kutztown 3 (Nov. 4, 2023) - Millersville is coming off of a match in which they were swept at Kutztown. The Marauders made it close in the second set and held multiple leads in the third but were unable to close out both games. The loss comes after sweeping the Golden Bears in Millersville earlier this season. 
  • Lock Haven:  Lock Haven 0, Shepherd 3 (Nov. 4, 2023) - The Bald Eagles hosted their Senior Day last Saturday afternoon and were also swept at the hands of third-place Shepherd. The first and third sets were within four points but didn't go in their favor. Reagan Irons led the team in kills with nine. 

SERIES HISTORY

  • This is the second and final meeting of the 2023 season between these two schools. Lock Haven beat Millersville 3-1 in Lock Haven on Oct. 6 creating the playoff scenario detailed above. That match was tied at one apiece before the Bald Eagles took control in the third set with a 15-4 run to put the visitors away. 
  • The rest of the series has been mostly even, with Lock Having holding a slight edge. The Marauders are 13-17 all time against the Bald Eagles.  has held a significant advantage. Millersville had won the previous seven contests between the two schools before its loss earlier this season. 
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