SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Millersville Marauders engaged in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) play for the first time in nearly a week, traveling to Shippensburg to take on the Raiders. The Marauders overcame a nine-point margin to win the first set but couldn't finish off any of the other games to fall 3-1.
 
The Raiders built up a healthy lead over the course of the first set, making it a nine-point advantage at 19-10. The visitors remained undeterred and cobbled together a 12-2 run in response to take their first lead at 22-21. The beginning of the spurt was fueled by the attacking prowess of Taylor Welter, who recorded three kills in four points to trim the deficit. Emma Ludwig, usually the one with the assist, chipped in a kill to knot the match at 22 and Emma Kerwin's attack found paydirt to give the 'Ville a one-point lead. It was not an easy feat to pry the set out of the Raiders' hands, as the two teams needed overtime to determine a victor. Another Welter strike put the Marauders up 27-26 and a Raider error handed the visitors the 1-0 lead.
 
The following set was neck and neck throughout, as neither team had a lead of more than two with exception to Millersville's 10-7 advantage midway through the set. Kerwin gave the Marauders an early 1-0 lead with a service ace and scored her team's final point of the set, a kill to bring them within a point down 22-23. Shippensburg rallied to win that set and even the match at one before taking a 2-1 lead with a 25-17 win in the third game.
 
It looked as if the Raiders would run away with the fourth set, but the Marauder still had some fight left; they cut a nine-point deficit to just one with a 13-4 run midway through the bout. Sam White was clutch, putting home consecutive kills to bring the Marauders within one at 23-22. Nearly the entire team chipped in on the almost-comeback; Alex Nava, White, Welter, Kerwin and Ludwig all recorded points for Millersville in that stretch.

POSTGAME REACTION FROM BRIAN SMITH: 

• Overall thoughts: "Both teams played well–what a great comeback in set one! have no complaints on the way we competed; we fought tough the whole match"
• On the home and road splits: "We have had a tough road stretch, but we knew that playing the teams we did in Florida was a challenge. Not having our facilities for the beginning of the season also hasn't been great, but we control what we can. We have another opportunity to compete again tomorrow."

GAME NOTES

• Millersville falls below .500 on the season for the first time with an 8-9 mark overall. In PSAC play, they are 1-3, which puts them in a tie for sixth in the conference with West Chester.
• While the Marauders possess a sparkling 7-2 mark at home, they have not been able to muster up the same magic outside Millersville. They are winless on the road at 0-5 and 1-2 in neutral site games.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• With 48 assists against the Raiders, Ludwig's career total moves to 3545. That's 35 short of Missy Rauhauser's program-leading total of 3580, which the senior will take aim at tomorrow.
• Welter lit up the box score, tallying 22 kills to just four errors and a .353 hitting percentage. She had more than double her next closest teammate's total (Kerwin & Caroline Halsey with nine apiece). It's the second most kills by a Marauder this season (Kylee Schurig had 25 on Sept. 11 against Jefferson) and represents a new career high, besting the 18 she's had multiple times.

UP NEXT:

• The Marauders close out the road with a match against the Shepherd Rams beginning at 4 p.m. on Oct. 12.