MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — After clinching a playoff berth against the Shippensburg Raiders the night before, the Millersville Marauders looked to move into the third seed in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Playoff race Saturday afternoon. Standing in their way was the top-seeded Shepherd Rams, who entered the contest on a 14-match winning streak. The Rams ended up defeating the hosts in straight sets to clinch a perfect record against PSAC East foes.
 
The Senior Day festivities began with the honoring of the three Marauders seniors: Madison Von Neida, Mya Cascario and Emma Ludwig. After all three had proceeded to the center of the court and been lauded with their respective accomplishments, the match began.
 
Millersville held its own over the initial 20 rallies, even taking a three-point lead at 7-4 on a kill from Sam White. They pulled even with the visitors on a putaway from Taylor Welter at 10-10, but it was all Rams from then on out; they outscored the Marauders 15-4 from that point forward en route to the 25-14 set victory. The Shepherd front lines showed up in a big way after that 10-10 tie and made life difficult for Millersville's attackers. Also to blame were the five service aces that the Rams had in the set.
 
The Marauders got their first points of the second set on a kill from Kylee Schurig, who hit the ball from the right side of the court and placed it just inside the left boundary. The Rams held an early 6-1 lead, but Schurig made inroads into the deficit with back to back service aces at 6-5 and 6-4. Despite the Marauders' best efforts, the visitors' front line and serves were too much for the hosts to handle, leading to a second set win.
 
Millersville held an early lead in the third set, but Shepherd quickly wiped that out. The highlights of the game were consecutive kills from Emma Kerwin and Schurig as well as an Olivia Jones service ace that was bookended with kills from Schurig. The final Schurig kill was a ferocious swat that brought the hosts to within one at 19-18.

GAME NOTES

• Millersville will face Shepherd in the playoffs as well, as the Rams are the one seed and the Marauders remained in the fourth seed with the loss. That match is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 19 at Shepherd.

HEAD COACH BRIAN SMITH'S THOUGHTS:

• On Von Neida and her time as a Marauder: "MJ came in as a freshman and started her first year as a defensive specialist and pretty much started in that capacity for three of the four years. She started as a libero a little bit last year and won the job this year. She's been rock solid for us and obviously her stats show that.  She would always show up to every single practice and go to work. She's been an amazing teammate and a good ambassador for our program."
• On Cascario and her time as a Marauder: "What Mya brought coming into the program was quickness and athleticism; she's one of the best athletes on the team. And again, a tenacious work ethic; she continued to get better and better and get more and more playing time. She got over a hundred aces in her career, but she only had six or seven as a freshman, so she got more and more playing time. She earned the right to be out there. She also earned the confidence and respect of her, so again, she's a success story."
• On Ludwig and her time as a Marauder: "Emma is an amazing human being and a great team captain. She's one of the players that everyone, including opposing coaches, would always talk about and say 'She's really really good.'  It's easy to see when she's out there playing. She's got this quiet, competitive nature to her. She just cannot stand to lose. And her and Mya have 3.99 GPAs and they're involved in SAC and they're playing volleyball and they're working tournaments for me. And anytime I need anything, they are the first ones to volunteer and come help. All three of them are amazing human beings and I've been blessed to have all three"

UP NEXT:

• The Marauders take on Shepherd once more in the first round of the PSAC Playoff Tournament. That's scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 19 at a time that is to be determined.