Marauders drop both ends of doubleheader and fall below .500

Sunday, September 17

Orangeburg, NY

12:00 PM

Millersville University

4-5

Dominican

2-8

Millersville

Dominican (N.Y.)

Marauders drop both ends of doubleheader and fall below .500

9/17/2023 5:25:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Wes Champlin, Athletic Communications Graduate Assistant

ORANGEBURG, N.Y. - The Marauders headed to Dominican University for a doubleheader against the host Chargers and later Roberts Wesleyan University. The term 'volleyball is a game of runs' got a workout in their first match of the day against the Chargers, as the two teams traded scoring runs and momentum throughout the bout, with the hosts finally taking it 3-2. Roberts Wesleyan was able to even the season series and claim their first-ever victory over Millersville, 3-1.

RECAP MATCH ONE: After quickly finding themselves in a 3-0 hole in the day's first set, Millersville claimed the game's next six points. A few moments later, at 9-8, the Marauders went on a 10-2 run bookended by kills from Emma Kerwin and Kalia Espenlaub. That run seemed to put the game out of reach with the visitors up 19-10, but the Chargers responded with a run of their own to knot it at 24. Freshmen Espenlaub and Becca Hartranft answered the call, dashing Dominican's hopes with back-to-back kills to end it.

The Chargers clearly carried their momentum from the previous set, as they raced out to a 12-2 lead before the Marauders could catch their breath. They would stem the tide with a 4-1 run and later threaten to make a comeback of their own by scoring six straight to bring them within four at 18-22. However, the initial Charger lead was too much to overcome. Even so, the Marauders hoped to carry their momentum into the third set.

They did just that, leaping out to a 7-3 lead on the backs of Kerwin, Espenlaub and Hartranft, who each recorded a kill. The Chargers then took seven of the next nine points to put them up two. Even so, if there was anything to be learned from this match, it's that momentum can shift entirely in an instant. The 'Ville proved that yet again as they went on a 9-1 run featuring six errors by their opponents to make it 17-11.

No lead was insurmountable in this match, and that was true here as well. The Marauders allowed Dominican to creep back in and eventually take the lead 23-21 before Coach Brian Smith called timeout. His young team tied it up at 23-23 before a Millersville error and Charger kill ended in favor of the hosts.

Madison Von Neida put the Marauders up 6-3 in set four with back-to-back service aces. The Marauders extended their lead to six with a 5-1 run featuring two kills from Alex Nava before the Chargers called timeout. Millersville gave Dominican three points coming out of the timeout with three straight errors. Up 11-9 after the run, Millersville responded by scoring five straight and causing another Charger timeout. Like the previous games, the Chargers would crawl back into it spearheaded by a 7-1 run to bring them within two at 19-17. That's as close as Domincan would get, as the 'Ville closed it out 25-20.

Dominican swiftly went up by five at 7-2 in the deciding set, forcing Smith to call a timeout. The Marauders responded yet again, claiming the next four points, two of them by way of vicious Kerwin kills. They traded blows through the middle game, with ties at 10, 11 and 12 points apiece. The Chargers took the set 15-13 with one final kill.

RECAP MATCH TWO: The Redhawks took an early 5-1 lead in set one fueled by a few Marauder errors. They then slowly extended the lead before eventually taking the set by double-digits, 25-15. Millersville entered the second set looking for a bounce back performance akin to their first match of the day. They started small, battling back and forth, but neither team was able to take a commanding lead in the early going.

There were ties at every point between 5-5 and 13-13. The game was waiting for someone to take hold, and Roberts Wesleyan was the one to do so. They scored 6 straight to claim a five-point lead at 18-13 and triggering a Brian Smith timeout. The Marauders would remain at arm's length until the Redhawks had set point up 24-18. A Kerwin kill started a Millersville 7-0 run to send the game to overtime with a chance to win, but the young squad was unable to take advantage. The teams remained on the see-saw until Roberts Wesleyan finished the 'Ville's chances at a comeback victory with a service ace, 30-28.

After four grueling hours of back-and-forth volleyball, the Marauders came out with renewed vigor, winning the first four points of set three. They extended that lead to 9-3 as Caroline Halsey made her presence known with three kills during the run. The Redhawks made inroads into that advantage during the middle of the set, eventually cutting it to three at 17-14. Millersville dashed their hopes of a sweep by scoring eight of the next 10 points and pushing the match to a fourth set, 25-16.

Neither team was able to take a lead of more than three points in set four until the Marauders did at 11-8. That score was the result of a 5-0 run that included four straight kills, two each by Nava and Hartranft. After a Roberts Wesleyan timeout, they returned the favor with a 7-2 run to claim a two-point advantage at 15-13. The Redhawks continued to pour it on, scoring five more after a Kerwin kill. They would maintain a lead of at least five points throughout the rest of the set and ultimately won it 25-17.

COACH BRIAN SMITH'S THOUGHTS

On match one: "It was a battle between two very young teams with large freshman classes. A lot of youth and inexperience on the court, which in our sport and this level usually results in too many unforced errors. Both teams had their issues, but in the end, we ended minus three in total points scored and committed one additional hitting error. We had seven less receiving errors, but they outblocked us. It's no wonder it lasted five sets and was decided by two points-it was a scrappy match with lots of inconsistency."
On what happened in match two: "In the rematch with Roberts Wesleyan we came out slow, likely because we only had 30 minutes to recover from a hard fought five-set match and we had to face a fresh team. We dug deeper in set two, but losing 28-30 in a tough set put our backs to the wall and we never really recovered from that."
On his team heading into conference play: "I'm not sure where we stand heading into conference play this week. We have improved as a unit every week, but we have a habit of taking two steps forward and one step back. I think it's a little less about our youth and more about our maturity at this point. We have to stop playing for ourselves and start playing for each other. It's time for the great reset button to be pressed, we (the PSAC teams) are all 0-0 in conference play. I hope we've learned some lessons and can apply them moving forward."

GAME NOTES

This is the first time the Marauders have ever lost to the Chargers. Entering the day they had been a perfect 4-0.
This is also the first time Millersville has ever lost to Roberts Wesleyan in volleyball, as they sported a 3-0 record coming in. Their most recent win was earlier this season when they beat the Redhawks 3-1 at the Marauder Clash.
Madison Williams recorded her first career start in match two.
Millersville made a change at libero after the first set against the Redhawks, replacing Elizabeth Villegas with Madison Von Neida. Villegas had held that position since overtaking Von Neida in set two of the season's first match.
With the loss, Millersville falls to below .500 on the season, an unfamiliar place. The Marauders have left all three tournaments that they've played in with an even record. The only day this season that ended with them having a record below .500 was September 1, when they began the season 0-2.
The Marauders play their first conference game of the season on Wednesday as they travel to West Chester to face the Golden Rams. Their record sits at 4-3 on the year.
Taylor Welter was sorely missed in both matches. Smith said that she was out this weekend because of an ankle injury suffered last weekend against Gannon.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

In match one, the Marauders registered just five kills during the second set, mainly taking advantage of Charger errors to score their points. That led to a hitting percentage of -.121. Both of those figures dropped precipitously from the first set when they recorded 17 kills and a hitting percentage of .244.
There were four separate runs of 4-0 or greater in the fourth set of the first match.
Alex Nava's three kills in set four of match one matched her career total up to that set.
The Marauders and the Redhawks posted similar numbers in blocks, hitting percentage and service errors. The difference in the game was the number of kills for each team, as Millersville recorded 13 less than the opposition (39-52).