MARIETTA, Ohio — Marietta College senior libero Becca Holzworth (North Olmsted, North Olmsted) became the school's all-time leader in digs Friday (Oct. 9) night during the young Pioneers' hard-fought 3-1 (25-14, 25-13, 21-25, 24-26) loss to visiting #4 Ohio Northern University. [Box Score]

Marietta (15-7, 2-2 OAC), which continues to feature 2 seniors, 2 sophomores and 6 freshmen, started slow against high-powered Ohio Northern (20-2, 2-1 OAC). The Polar Bears, who were coming off just their second loss of the season on Tuesday, quickly took a 2-0 lead with 25-14 and 25-13 wins.

After a brief intermission, the Pioneers came out a completely different team and were able to take the third set 25-21. It was the first time that Marietta took a game/set off Ohio Northern since 1998. The Pioneers used the momentum to push the Polar Bears to extra play in set 4 before finally falling 26-24.

Holzworth, who set the school's single-season record for digs with 666 a year ago, moved atop all Pioneer defenders in career digs with her 25-dig effort against Ohio Northern. The senior increased her career total to 1,652 digs, which allowed her to pass Julie Goebel '92 for first on Marietta's all-time list.

Holzworth received plenty of assistance on defense against the Polar Bears, as freshman outside hitter Jen Braun (Chagrin Falls, Kenston) collected 16 digs and freshman setter Ally Jenkins (Twinsburg, Walsh Jesuit) had 13 digs. Senior defensive specialist Katy Williams (Richmond, Ind., Richmond) also contributed 8 digs in the match. Freshman middle blocker Sarah Campbell (Twinsburg, Twinsburg) helped the defense with 4 total blocks.

Jenkins continued to show improvement as the team's setter and finished with 39 assists against Ohio Northern. Freshman outside hitter Amanda Sawicki (Mentor, Lake Catholic) had her best offensive output since her season debut as she matched a career-high with 16 kills. Sophomore Meredith Storey (Olmsted Falls, Olmsted Falls), meanwhile, continued to be a scoring threat on the right side and finished with 12 kills. Holzworth, Sawicki and Williams all added 2 service aces in the match.

Marietta will look to bounce back when the Pioneers visit Alliance Tuesday (Oct. 13) for a match-up with Mount Union College at 7 p.m.