BEREA, Ohio – Marietta College came from two sets down to defeat Baldwin Wallace University 3-2 Saturday (Oct. 27) afternoon in a critical Ohio Athletic Conference volleyball match. With the win, the Pioneers have earned the right to host a first round match in the OAC Tournament next week.
The Yellow Jackets' offensive attack was on fire in the first two sets committing just one attacking error in each set. The Pioneers held early leads in both sets only to see Baldwin Wallace slip by for the win. BW won 25-22 and 25-19 in the first two stanzas.
Marietta took the third and fourth sets to even the match 2-2. The Pioneers posted 25-21 and 25-23 wins to force a fifth, and deciding, set for the match.
Baldwin Wallace jumped out to an early 4-1 lead in the final set. The Pioneers battled back to tie the set at 8-8. The teams alternated points until Marietta scored two in a row to take a 13-11 lead.
BW responded with two points to even the score at 13-13. A kill by each team knotted the set at 14-14. Senior #
Alex VanGundy (Powell/Olentangy Liberty)# put away a kill setting up match point for the Pioneers. On the ensuing service, #
Laura Mauer (Terre Haute, Ind./North)# finished off the match with a kill.
Freshman #
Keri Horton (Westland, Mich./Wayne Memorial)# led the Pioneers with 15 kills. She added six digs and two blocks. Sophomore #
Rachel Hackenberg (Canal Winchester/Franklin Heights)# had 14 kills and a match-high five blocks. Junior #
Paige DeVriendt (Bowling Green/Bowling Green)# chipped in with 12 kills.
VanGundy and freshman #
Chloe Janson (Lawrenceburg, Ind./East Central)# each had eight kills, while Mauer notched a match-high 47 assists. Janson and Mauer each tallied four blocks.
Marietta's back line was anchored by senior libero #
Jen Braun (Chagrin Falls/Kenston)#. Braun had 38 digs to lead all players. Freshman #
Mary Ervin (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy Orange)# and Mauer recorded 25 and 23 digs, respectively.
Marietta enters the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed. The Pioneers will host fifth-seeded Heidelberg University (18-13, 5-4 OAC) on Tuesday (Oct. 30) at 7:00 p.m. Marietta defeated Heidelberg 3-0 in Tiffin during the regular season.
The other first round pairings include #8 Muskingum at #1 Mount Union, #7 Capital at #2 Otterbein and #6 Baldwin Wallace at #3 Ohio Northern. The semifinals and finals will be Friday and Saturday at the highest remaining seed after the first round matches.
Fans can catch the action live at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter.
