MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — With a final swing of Emma Kerwin's right arm, the Millersville Marauders upset the visiting Shippensburg Raiders and vaulted themselves into the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Playoff Tournament for the first time since 2019. It took nearly two hours and 30 minutes, but outcome was worth it for the more than 200 Marauder faithful that filled Pucillo Gymnasium Friday night. With Millersville's 3-2 win over Shippensburg and Bloomsburg's 3-1 loss to East Stroudsburg, the Marauders secured the fourth seed in the PSAC East Division.
 
The hosts faced a daunting task entering the weekend: they had to win at least one match against the first and second-place teams in the conference to make the cut. Up first was the second-seeded Raiders, who sported a 10-2 conference mark entering Friday. The Marauders started the match out strong with a combination block from Caroline Halsey and Emma Ludwig and followed that up with a Mya Cascario ace that nestled itself in the far right boundary line. The Marauders would extend the lead to 11-6 on the two longest points of the season; there were many diving saves and hits on both sides, but it was the home team that outlasted the opposition to earn the points.
 
The Raiders tied it back up at 15-all but the 'Ville would hold the upper hand for most of the rest of the set. A 4-0 Marauder run was crucial in securing the win, and Kerwin finished the 25-22 win off with a kill. She was the premier offensive threat in the first set, tallying seven of the team's 13 kills; she was the only one to record a kill over the team's last five points. Even so, the entire team contributed to winning the set, as there was just a single receiving error, and the Marauders dominated the front lines.
 
The second set began much like the first, as Millersville took an early 5-2 lead. Shippensburg drew to within one at 6-5 but the 'Ville won the next three points, one of which was a Kylee Schurig tap off of a blocker's arm. Millersville would take its biggest lead of the night shortly thereafter at 15-9, aided by a Ludwig kill that was only made possible through a diving save from Elizabeth Villegas. Shippensburg went on 13-3 run after that kill, aided by a few Marauder miscues. Those errors would give the second set to the Raiders and followed the hosts into their 25-16 third set loss as well.
 
Not all was lost in the third set, however, as the Marauders were able to win a few points at the set's end to bring momentum into set four. While the first set was the Kerwin show offensively, Taylor Welter took over in the fourth. She had seven of the team's 16 kills and didn't commit an error in the set; in fact, it was the team's best hitting set of the match, as they totaled those 16 kills on a .308 hitting mark. Millersville took the upper hand with a 6-1 run that was bookended by kills from Sam White, the second of which was a sneaky drop shot that fell in between all six Raiders. That made the score 14-10 Millersville and caused a Shippensburg timeout. The visitors would regroup and make inroads into the advantage, eventually knotting the match at 16 and causing Marauders head coach Brian Smith to take a timeout. Welter came out of the timeout with a blast into the heart of the court to retake the lead. The Marauders added one to that lead a few points later at 21-18 with a hustle play by Ludwig, who nearly ended up in the crowd to save an errant pass. Shippensburg went on to hit the ball into the net after Schurig got it onto their side.
 
The Raiders came back to take the lead once more at 23-22, but it was not their night; the Marauders regrouped and pushed it to set point with kills from Kerwin and Welter. The final rally of the set was a bit wild, as Kerwin's pass went off the scoreboard that hangs over the court, and back onto the Marauders' half. Ludwig, thinking quickly, corralled the pass and Welter hit it over the net to continue the point. Shippensburg hit it into the net to the delight of the Marauder faithful and the match moved to a decisive fifth set.
 
As has been their tendency this season, the Marauders headed into the side change on the wrong end of the score. White was now the team's main source of offense, as she tallied possibly the three biggest kills of her life with Pucillo Gymnasium hanging on every volley. The first pulled her team to within one at 7-6 and the second did the same at 8-7. Her third was a swat off the opposition's block to take a 10-9 lead. The teams traded the next two points before Welter struck again, leaping and mashing a perfect Ludwig feed off a Raider defender and into the hardwood. That led to a Raider timeout, and they responded with a kill of their own, causing Smith to use his first timeout. His message to the team was to stay the course.
 
"I was just trying to keep them calm," Smith said of his timeout philosophy. "We kind of stunk it up in the third set and it was a ball control issue, but I didn't want to make a big deal out of it because I didn't want to get in their head. So, I said, 'this is why we struggled–it was us, not them'. I reminded them to stay aggressive, to not tip everything, to just swing and go for the win. I just laid it all out there."
 
Whatever Smith said, it worked; the Marauders won the next point on Welter's 18^th putaway and Halsey pushed them to within one of the Tournament with another kill after that. That set the stage for Kerwin, who took Ludwig's pass and swatted it off the outstretched arm of a Raider for the 15-13 victory. The rest of the team rushed onto the court in celebration to the cheers of a jubilant crowd.
 
"It feels great," said Smith on the team's return to the playoffs. "And to have to go through Shippensburg to get there, it's even more special to me. I think it is a bit of validation to our players after being picked eighth in the conference. We played a lot of the conference matches with a little bit of a chip on our shoulder. But yeah, it definitely feels good to be in."
 
His team didn't know they had made the playoffs until after the match, as they needed a Bloomsburg loss to East Stroudsburg to secure their spot. And while Smith was happy for his team, the team's three seniors stuck out most of all: Ludwig, Madison Von Neida and Mya Cascario.
 
"It was definitely special for our seniors," Smith reflected. "Emma (Ludwig) and all of the seniors have done so much for this program. For them to not get to make playoffs ever in their career, this was something that they had talked about. So I'm probably more happy for them."

GAME NOTES

• Millersville makes the playoffs for the first time since 2019. No player on the team's roster had participated in the PSAC Playoff Tournament in their careers. The Marauders will hold the fourth seed barring an upset of Shepherd tomorrow paired with an East Stroudsburg loss at Lock Haven. 

UP NEXT:

• Millersville celebrates senior day against Shepherd on Nov. 16, 2024 at 2 p.m.