WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Millersville University women's volleyball team kicked off its season with a four-set win over Dominican University (N.Y.) on Friday, Sept. 5. Set scores were 25-22, 24-26, 25-20, and 25-23.
 
Millersville (1-0) finished the match with a .197 hitting percentage, outpacing Dominican (0-1), who posted a .131. The Marauders racked up 46 kills, held a 5-4 advantage in blocks, and out-served the Chargers with 13 aces to their seven.
 
Kylee Schurig and Caroline Halsey led the charge for the Marauders with a combined 27 kills in the match. Trinity Baldwin handed out 26 assists and Becca Hartranft impressed at the service line with a career-best six aces. Hartranft, Baldwin, and Schurig held the defense with a combined 34 digs.
 
After falling behind 14-11 in the first set, the Marauders responded with three consecutive kills to close the gap to one. Although the Chargers briefly regained control, the momentum shifted following two aces from Makenzie Muscarello. The Marauders ultimately claimed the set 25-22, helped by a pair of Dominican attacking errors down the stretch.
 
The Chargers took control of the second set after opening with a 10-4 lead. The Marauders tied the match 24-24 with kills from Taylor Welter, but Dominican responded and tied the match at one set apiece.
 
Millersville regained momentum in the third set, racing out to a 7-3 lead. Dominican responded with a run of their own, trimming the deficit to just one, but the Marauders took advantage of errors to rebuild a four-point cushion. Timely kills from Amanda Protzman and aces from Becca Hartranft sealed the set, as Millersville pulled away for a five-point victory.
 
Dominican jumped out to an early lead in the fourth set, looking to force a fifth. Trailing by five, the Marauders responded with a 6-2 run, highlighted by three kills from Halsey, to close the gap to one. After a stretch of back-and-forth play, Millersville found themselves behind once more but rallied with a 5-0 run to take a 23-21 lead. The Marauders went on to close out the set and the match on a Dominican attack error.

Head Coach Brian Smith commented, "I am happy about the win. We struggled with some ball control early in sets and tended to put ourselves into a hole, but we were able to fight out of that." The team itself had "a lot of butterflies and nerves in today's first match," but Smith hopes they "can settle down tomorrow and perform at a higher level."

The Marauders' next match is Saturday, Sept. 6 where they face Georgian Court (11 a.m.) and Charleston (1 p.m.) for a double-header before they return for their home-opener on Tuesday, Sept. 9.