MILLERSVILLE, PA. - Millersville hosted the Chestnut Hill Griffins for their first home game in over three weeks and claimed their fifth win of the season, 3-1. The Marauders entered the third set tied at one apiece before taking the next two in succession. 
 
Set one was a back-and-forth affair throughout, with neither team being able to take a lead of more than four points. Emma Kerwin scored four straight points for the Marauders at one point via back-to-back kills and service aces. The turning point of the set came when the Griffins led 20-17. The Marauders then put together an 8-3 run including four kills and two by Kerwin. The final blow was dealt by the hands of Emma Ludwig and Sam White, who combined on a block to take the set 25-22. 
 
Chestnut Hill bounced back in the second set, jumping out to an early 7-2 advantage fueled by a 6-0 run. The Marauders would battle back but were never able to get closer than four points through the rest of the set, eventually dropping it 25-19. The story of the set was each team's hitting percentage, as the visitors out-hit Millersville by more than .350. 
 
The Marauders hoped to put their previous mistakes behind them in set three, and that they did. Each of their first eight points came via either kill or service ace. Down 7-4, they went on their longest uninterrupted run of the match, scoring the next eight points to flip the score at 12-7. The Griffins responded by scoring the next five to knot it at 12, but the Marauders would not trail for the rest of the match. Millersville retook the lead with a 7-1 spurt powered by three kills from Becca Hartranft. Save for a brief moment when the visitors pulled within one at 24-23, they held a comfortable lead for most of the game, winning it 25-23.
 
The Marauders made a statement in the fourth set by scoring the game's first six points. The Griffins did respond with a 5-1 run but it was never really close after that. The tightest it was was at 9-7, but Millersville was able to extend its lead with a 5-2 run before eventually taking the set and match 25-21 on a Ludwig kill. 
 
Millersville will look to build on this victory when they host conference foe East Stroudsburg at 7 p.m. in Pucillo Gymnasium. 
 
COACH BRIAN SMITH'S THOUGHTS

• His overall takeaways from the match: "Chestnut Hill was scrappy. We started off slow in a couple of sets, but nobody panicked. I felt like we would settle down and learn what they were doing to us defensively, and that we could make some adjustments and we did that. It's a good win to get back on track going into a pretty big homestand against PSAC East teams."
• On his team's growth at the net: "I was really pleased with our net play. We had two freshmen middles in there, so we're still trying to coach them up with regards to putting themselves into better positions based on where they're lined up on serve/receive and communicating more with each other, and the hitters along with that. We're definitely improving as a blocking team. That's one thing we can control, so we're trying to do a little bit more of that and hopefully that continues to get better."

• Chestnut Hill was on the second half of back-to-back games, having hosted Shippensburg last night. 
• With the win, Millersville retains its flawless record against the Griffins. They are 3-0 in the all-time series. 
• Elizabeth Villegas started at libero after Madison Von Neida had held that position for the last few matches. 

• Emma Kerwin led the team in kills with 17, but Becca Hartranft was their most effective hitter. After not playing in the first set, Hartraft finished second on the team with nine putaways in addition to just one error. 
• Emma Ludwig recorded a double-double with 39 assists and 17 digs. She was two kills short of a triple-double with eight. 
• Millersville recorded 18 kills to just two errors in set three, leading to a .348 hitting %.