MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – The Millersville Marauders looked to make a statement in their first game action of 2024, and that they did, taking down Wilmington (Del.) and California (Pa.) on day one of the Marauder Clash. The home team owned the court in the Student Memorial Center, downing the Wildcats 3-1 before edging out the Vulcans 3-2 in the nightcap. 

MATCH ONE: 

vs. Wilmington (25-22, 25-14, 25-13, 25-10)

Wilmington registered blocks on the first two points of the season but the hosts bounced back and made it a back and forth affair throughout. The visitors went up 19-16, but three point leads were as far as either team would take control in the first set. The Marauders knotted it back up at 19-19 and Kylee Schurig made an impact in her first collegiate match, utilizing a pretty tap in to tie it once more a couple points later. A 3-0 run at the end secured it for the visitors, 25-22. 

The Marauders jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the second set and didn't look back, quickly extending the advantage to double digits at 14-4. Their largest lead of the day would come on an Emma Ludwig ace to go up 21-7 and they cruised to the 25-14 win. Set three was tight in the beginning, but again the hosts proved to be the better team, downing the Wildcats by 12. Another double-digit victory occurred in the final game and the 'Ville rolled to a 3-1 victory. 

Millersville owned the game from the start of the second set; the hosts posted a 75-39 point differential from that point onward. The Marauders also dominated on the serve, tallying 22 aces to the visitor's six. That's almost double the team's single-game high of 13 from last season. Schurig had eight and Taylor Welter added six in addition to her team-high 14 kills. 
 

MATCH TWO:

vs. California (Pa.) (25-23, 25-20, 25-21, 25-10, 15-10)

Millersville carried that momentum into its second match of the day. Welter again made her presence known early on, tallying back to back kills in the first set to put her team up 2-0. The hosts took advantage of a few Vulcan miscues to take a 12-7 lead in the middlegame. Their largest lead of the set was at 20-14, but the visitors quickly knotted the game at 22. A kill from Emma Kerwin and two from Welter then secured a 1-0 lead. 

It was the opposition that came out hot in the second set, as Cal used an 11-2 run to take a 12-4 lead. They would go on to take the game, but Millersville made inroads into the advantage and cut it to five by its conclusion. Welter came up big with a block and a kill in the third set, but the Vulcans still took it and the 2-1 lead. 

Millersville was undeterred, however. An 11-0 run in the fourth set fueled by five service aces from Mya Cascario put the bout securely in their hands. They tallied 17 kills in the set from six different players en route to the 25-10 victory. 

The final set of the day started well for the hosts. Schurig tallied a kill and Welter followed it up with another. A Cal 4-0 was then answered with a 'Ville 4-0 run, and the Marauders would never trail again. They grabbed the upper hand for good with another Welter kill to make it 13-9 and Caroline Halsey secured the victorious day with a final putaway to make it 15-10. 
 

POSTGAME REACTION FROM BRIAN SMITH: 

On the team's improvements in passing and blocking: "I felt we passed very well. I thought we passed very well throughout the two matches. Cal wasn't very aggressive with their serves, but we still passed great. So I'm super happy about that. I don't know what the stats look like as far as blocking in the last match, but I did notice that we averaged 1.75 blocks per set in the first match. That's way up for us from last year, as we were under one. There's still work to be done, I think, particularly in blocking, but we're right there. We definitely answered the bell with our passing play."

On the improvements on the mental side of the game : "Again, I thought we did well. The couple times that we did put ourselves in a hole, we outplayed the teams at the end, even though we had a hole and couldn't catch up all the way. It was good to have that adversity and try to overcome the deficits and feel confident in that all we need is a couple (scoring) runs to get back into the matches."

GAME NOTES

• Schurig started and made her collegiate debut in match one. Fellow rookie Tiffany Blakely made her first appearance in set three of match two. 
  The Marauders opened up their season with a 3-1 win over Wilmington; in 2023, they began on the other side of the coin, with a 1-3 loss to Wilmington. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• With her 99 assists on the day, Ludwig sits 18 assists away from 3000 for her career. She would become just the fourth player in team history to reach that milestone. She also set a career high in assists against the Vulcans with 62, 10 more than her previous career best set over three years ago; Ludwig tallied 52 dimes as a freshman against Franklin Pierce on Sept. 4, 2021. 

UP NEXT:

• The Marauders will play a doubleheader again tomorrow in day two of the Marauder Clash, this time at Penn Manor High School. Match one begins at 11am and is against undefeated Roberts Wesleyan while match two is against Charleston (W.Va.) and starts at 5pm.