MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College volleyball team fought back from a 2-0 deficit to send Tuesday (Oct. 20) night's Ohio Athletic Conference Dig Pink match with visiting Capital University to a deciding fifth set only for the Crusaders to escape with a 3-2 (25-21, 25-11, 21-25, 19-25, 15-11) victory at Ban Johnson Arena. [Box Score]

Marietta (16-9, 3-4 OAC) and Capital (16-10, 5-1 OAC) teamed up to participate in the national Dig Pink program, which has collegiate and high school volleyball teams raising money and awareness for the fight against breast cancer. Both teams were taking donations over the last few weeks, and Marietta's squad will continue to accept donations to the cause through the rest of October. The Pioneers and Crusaders combined for 149 digs in the five-set match. Donors can pledge per dig or give a set amount. All donations will be made to the Side-out Foundation. To contribute to the cause, visit this web site.

Capital and Marietta battled throughout the opening set. The Crusaders took an early five-point lead at 8-3 only for the Pioneers to battle back to knot the score 19-19. Three kills from Courtney Diller over the next 10 points helped Capital win 25-21. The Crusaders used the momentum from set 1, combined with a host of Pioneers errors, to cruise to a 25-11 win in set 2.

Marietta, however, did not quit and led the majority of set 3 before a kill from sophomore outside hitter Alex Weissling (Dublin, Dublin Scioto) finally sealed the 25-21 victory to pull her team within a set, 2-1. The Pioneers once again controlled most of set 4 en route to a 25-19 win, which sent the match into a fifth set.

Capital quickly captured the momentum in the final set by taking an early 8-4 lead. Marietta fought back within striking distance 11-9 but could not get any closer as the Crusaders took the set 15-11 and the match 3-2.

Pioneer freshman Amanda Sawicki (Mentor, Lake Catholic) led all attackers with a match-high and career-high 22 kills. Weissling contributed 18 kills, while freshman setter Ally Jenkins (Twinsburg, Walsh Jesuit) and sophomore middle blocker Jessie Blackley (Aurora, Aurora) both added 9 kills in the match. Jenkins also finished with a career-best 50 assists in the losing effort.

Capital's offense was paced by Allison Hostetler, who finished with 17 kills, which helped her surpass the 1,000-kill mark for her career. Diller also added 10 kills, while Jenna Zumberger had 44 assists in the match.

The Pioneers' defense, which totaled 60 digs, was anchored by senior libero Becca Holzwoth, who finished with a team-high 15 digs. Three others—Jenkins, Weissling and freshman outsider hitter Jen Braun (Chagrin Falls, Kenston)—all added 10 digs in the match. Marietta's defense was also aided by 9 total blocks, including 1 solo and 5 assists from freshman middle blocker Sarah Campbell (Twinsburg, Twinsburg).

The Crusader's defense, which totaled 84 digs, was led by four players in double figures. Libero Sarah Doebel had a match-high 27 digs, Zumberger finished with 16 digs and Diller and Shannon Quinn both added 12 digs.

Marietta is back in action on Saturday (Oct. 24) when it takes a quick break from OAC action to play a tri-match at Washington & Lee in Lexington, Va. The Pioneers will play the host Generals at 1:30 p.m. and then take on Bridgewater (Va.) at 3:30 p.m.