MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – After two wins yesterday, the Millersville Marauders soared into day two of the Marauder Clash hoping to remain perfect. Roberts Wesleyan ruined their hopes with a 3-1 victory in match one, but the hosts ended the tournament on a good note with a sweep of Charleston (W.Va.) in the nightcap.

MATCH ONE: 

vs. Roberts Wesleyan (25-10, 25-23, 25-23, 25-22)

The Redhawks took a 10-3 lead to start the match. The hosts made inroads into that advantage, but the initial deficit was too great to overcome. Set two would hold better fortunes for the Marauders and was bolstered by a better start; after the opposition took the first point in a long rally, Millersville answered with a four-point burst to take the lead. 

The day's history came a bit later, when Emma Ludwig sent a perfect feed over to Taylor Welter. Welter smashed it off of the blockers in front and down onto the ground, securing career assist number 3,000 for Ludwig. That point was a part of the 5-0 Marauder run that won them the set; Welter contributed two kills and Roberts made three errors in that stretch, leading to the 25-23 win. 

Welter also authored the highlight of the third set, a vicious kill on the nearside that found nothing but hardwood. That spurred a five-point run for the Marauders that forced a Redhawks timeout with them down 9-6. Another run for the hosts at the end of the set put them up 24-23 and was punctuated by an ace from Madison Von Neida. Despite that, Roberts Wesleyan took the set and the 2-1 lead.
 
Emma Kerwin played especially well in the fourth set. She contributed four kills to another five-point Marauder run in the middle of the set. Her first three in a row gave the hosts a 9-8 lead and they finished the run up 11-8. Kerwin ended up notching five kills in a seven-point span, almost half of her match total of 11. 
 

MATCH TWO:

vs. Charleston (W.Va.) (25-21, 25-21, 25-18)

Charleston began the match on a four-nothing run but the Marauders quickly regrouped and stuck with the visitors the rest of the way; neither team was able to grab an advantage of more than three for the rest of the set. The crucial point in the game came at 21-21 when Millersville head coach Brian Smith took the first timeout by either team. It clearly made a difference, as they were able to force an error by the opposition to start off a 4-0 run that won them the set. Ludwig used a well-placed drop shot to take a 23-21 lead and Welter finished it off with a kill of her own. 
 
The Marauders kept the momentum into the second set, surging to a 7-2 lead; both of their opponent's points came off of service errors. The hosts opened up a 15-10 advantage in the middlegame but Charleston came roaring right back with a 7-0 run to take the lead. Ludwig and Caroline Halsey stopped the bleeding with a clutch block, sparking a five-point run of their own. That would be how Millersville ended the game as well, with another five-point scoring outburst after the Golden Eagles took a short-lived 21-20 lead.  
 
Looking for the sweep, the Marauders jumped out to an early advantage yet again, going up 4-0 and then 6-1. Their longest lead of the match to that point came a couple points later at 12-5, but Charleston was undeterred yet again, scoring four straight and causing a Smith timeout. The very next point was a clean three-pass kill that was finished off by the right hand of Welter. A couple points later and the Golden Eagles had pulled to within one at 14-13. The 'Ville's final 5-0 run of the evening then gave them the upper hand for good, eventually taking the final set 25-18. 
 

POSTGAME REACTION FROM BRIAN SMITH: 

• On Ludwig's 3000th assist: "That was great. I'm super happy for her. She works hard; nobody works harder than she does. It's an awesome accomplishment. We actually wanted to call a timeout when it happened, but it was a critical point in the set, so we couldn't do it. We'll celebrate it later with her though."
• On the win in match two:  "That's a quality team right there. Our girls came in and served well and passed well, so our ball control was really good. We just kept pressing offensively; the hitting numbers looked really good."

GAME NOTES

• Millersville's all-time record against Roberts Wesleyan falls to 3-2 with the loss. The Marauders took the first three matchups but the Redhawks have won the last two. 
• Millersville improves to 1-1 all-time against the Golden Eagles with the victory. The Marauders also avenged last year's sweep at the hands of Charleston with a sweep of their own.
• Freshman defensive specialist Tiffany Blakely earned her first career start in match two after not appearing in match one. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Ludwig became the fourth player in Marauder history to reach 3,000 career assists. First place in team history is in reach for the senior, as Missy Rauhauser is tops all-time with 3,580 dimes. 
• The three players that reached double digits in kills in match one also did so in match two. They were the trio of Welter, Kerwin and Kylee Schurig. 

UP NEXT:

• The Marauders host Jefferson on Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 7pm.