WINTER PARK, Fla. – On Thursday, the Millersville Marauders traveled down to Winter Park, Florida to partake in the Rollins College Invitational. They engaged in their first game action on Friday and took the first match over Southern Connecticut before losing to the hosts in the nightcap.

MATCH ONE:  
vs. Southern Connecticut State

After an early hiccup, the Marauders rolled over the Owls in their first match of the day. They dropped the first set but returned to form to win the final three. That first bout was plagued by miscues leading early 10-2 deficit. Southern Connecticut kept the Marauders at that distance throughout the rest of the first set, but the Marauders bounced back in set two.

The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference's (PSAC) leader in service aces, Kylee Schurig, added four more to her season total in match one. She put home back-to-back aces to give Millersville its first lead of the afternoon up 9-8 in set two. Schurig also later finished the set off with a kill to claim a 25-21 victory and knot the match at one. 

Emma Kerwin made her presence known with her team down 18-16 in the third game. She tallied three straight points for the Marauders, the first two via kills and the last one being a service ace. That tied the match at 19 and forced an Owl timeout. A couple of points later, a swat from the arm of Taylor Welter put them up 22-20 and forced a second Owl timeout. Welter's next kill, a rocket that touched down in the middle of the court, put the Marauders on the brink of a 2-1 lead at 24-22. A Southern Connecticut service error ended the set in Millersville's favor and gave them that 2-1 advantage. 

The Marauders jumped on the opposition early in what would be the final set, taking a 7-1 lead on the strength of kills from five different players. They would extend that lead to double digits later in the set, eventually winning it and the match by a score of 25-15. Sam White finished the match off with a tip kill that barely made it over the net and onto the floor below. That was the cap on a productive day for Millersville's middles; White and Caroline Halsey combined for nine block assists and 10 kills.

MATCH TWO:
vs. Rollins College 

Millersville came out stronger in its second match, taking an early 10-3 lead over the host Tars. They remained up by six at 16-10, which caused a Rollins timeout. The hosts clambered back even a couple points later at 18-18 and once more at 22-22. Millersville was very disciplined on the lines, letting balls go out of bounds by a hair. That combined with their defense wore the Tars down and led to a few unforced errors.  Marauder libero Madison Von Neida put the Marauders up 25-24 with a clutch service ace, but a responding ace a couple points later gave Rollins the 27-25 win. 
 
Millersville took a similar lead early in the second set, going up 10-5. Again the Marauder defense held strong, wearing down the Tars and letting them make mistakes. The Marauders held that margin until Rollins cut it to one at 17-16. The Marauders offered a valiant response to those inroads, winning the next three points but the hosts answered back by taking the next four and knotting the match at 20. Up 23-21, Kerwin's clutch kill from the middle of the court gave the Marauders set point once more and Welter followed with a kill to even the match at one. Neither team hit very well in the second set; Millersville put up a .111 mark while Rollins followed with a measly .070. 
 
Rollins' 7-2 start in the next set spurred a timeout from Millersville head coach Brian Smith. The largest deficit in the early game would be 8-2 on the next point. The Marauders cut it to four at 12-8, but Rollins put the visitors away with a 5-0 run. Set number four was more interesting, but it began similarly to the third; Rollins went on a nine to nothing run after the visitors scored the first point. Millersville made inroads throughout the set, first cutting the deficit to five at 15-10 and then to one at 19-18. That second score was the result of a 5-0 run during which Halsey recorded two service aces. Alex Nava made her first appearance in the final set and gave the Marauders some juice, finishing with five kills in her limited action compared to just one error. 

GAME NOTES

• The Marauders improve to 1-0 all-time against Southern Connecticut, as this was the only ever meeting between the two programs. 
• Millersville remains winless in two matchups against Rollins in team history, but the 'Ville fared much better than last year; in 2023, the Tars swept the Marauders in Pucillo Gymnasium. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Millersville's slow start was driven by a hitting percentage of .079 in set one against Southern Connecticut. The ship was quickly righted, however, as they finished with a match percentage of .263. That was bolstered by a lofty .394 mark in the fourth set. 
• Kerwin led the team in kills with 13 in match one while Welter did so with 10 in match two. Welter was the only player to record double-digit putaways on both ends of the twin bill. 

UP NEXT:

• Millersville heads into day two of the Rollins Invitational with a match against Trevecca Nazarene beginning tomorrow at 11:30 am. After that, the Marauders take on Lynn at 4:30 pm before heading back to the 'Ville.