MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — The Marauders and Lakers meet again, as the two PSAC rivals are set to face off for a third time this season in the preliminary round of the NCAA Tournament.
Millersville enters its first NCAA Tournament in 13 years as the No. 6 seed in the Atlantic region, taking on the No. 3-seeded Mercyhurst Lakers. These teams recent history has been well-documented, as the Lakers had the Marauders number as of late until last weekend in the PSAC Tournament. Historically though, Mercyhurst has had the upper hand in the matchup, as Millersville is 9–25 all-time, though this is the first match between the two in the NCAA Tournament.
In an upset victory, the Marauders took down the Lakers 4–2 in the PSAC Tournament semifinals, their first win against Mercyhurst in five matches. The win also avenged a 6–1 road regular season loss, which proved to be the turning point in the Marauders season. After that decisive defeat, 'Ville went on to win the final eight regular season matches of the season before capping that streak off with the conference tournament win. Looking back on that March defeat, head coach
Matt Helsel said the differences between his team then and now couldn't be any starker.
"We were a very different team," Helsel said. "Playing them outside versus playing them indoors was a different thing. We have guys who have matured over the last six weeks and are playing at a different level. This is a team, thankfully because we're very young, that problem solves very well. They learn from their mistakes. They try something, it doesn't work, and they move on to something else. It was never more evident on Friday when, a team that handled us very easily, all of a sudden had their hands very full."
It was a gutsy performance for the Marauders in the last go around against the Lakers. Millersville took two of the doubles matches to get the early lead, thanks to
Dylan Tull and
Zach Pernia's comeback win, and
Valentin Ebner and
Jasper de Koning jumping ahead in their match and closing the door. Tull and Pernia both took care of business at the top of the lineup, including Pernia getting his first win in four matches against Mercyhurst's Lukas Cabue Valverde, a sign that the Marauders were not the underdogs their seed said they were in the tournament. After Mercyhurst took the third and fourth singles matches, it came down to the final two, with
Breno Maciel and de Koning fighting for that fourth point. Maciel ended up clinching the victory in the third set, while de Koning was leading in his final set 4–0 and looking primed to win as well.
Heading into the rubber match, Helsel said the semifinals matchup was as tough as it gets, and he doesn't expect anything differently this time around.
"They certainly won't take us lightly," Helsel said. "I expect it to be a very difficult match. I think both teams know that they can win, so it's going to be a good test."
'Ville will be looking for its first NCAA Tournament win in 23 years in the 2:30 showdown on Monday, May 13 in Edinboro, Pa. The winner of Monday's match will play the winner between Edinboro and Shaw with a ticket to Orlando, Fla. on the line the following day.
