UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio — Marietta College won a five-set thriller at John Carroll University Saturday (Oct. 7) afternoon in Ohio Athletic Conference volleyball action. The Pioneers improve to 9-12 overall and 1-2 in the OAC. John Carroll falls to 5-18 on the season and 102 in the OAC.
The Pioneers earned the victory with set scores of 21-25, 25-21, 19-25, 25-21 and 15-13. Senior
Darcy Irish (Lagrange, Ohio/Keystone) lead the Marietta attack with a career-high 25 kills.
Sam Ritenour (Jeffersonville, Ohio/Miami Trace) finished with 13 kills, while
Erica Denallo (Parma, Ohio/Independence) and
Hunter Barnes (Duncan Falls, Ohio/Philo) had nine kills apiece.
Three freshmen directed the Marietta offense.
Ellie Gerber (New Philadelphia, Ohio/New Philadelphia) had a team-high 19 assists.
Aly Wiseman (London, Ohio/Bishop Ready) and
Maddie Nader (Vermilion, Ohio/Vermilion) each dished out 17 assists.
Defensively,
Amanda Arrowood (Reynoldsburg, Ohio/Groveport Madison) posted four blocks. Libero
Emily Peters (Elyria, Ohio/Keystone) and Denallo notched 22 and 10 digs, respectively.
Marietta grabbed a 21-20 lead in the first set only to watch John Carroll score the next five points and take the frame, 25-21. The Pioneers turned the tables in the second set. JCU lead 18-16 until Marietta went on a 7-1 run to go up 22-19 en route to the 25-21 win.
John Carroll lead the third set from start to finish and pulled away to take the set, 25-19. The fourth set was a back and forth affair with both team holding leads of at least three points. The Pioneers finished the frame by winning five of the final six points to force the fifth set.
The Blue Streaks jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead but Marietta won six straight points midway through the frame to take an 11-7 lead. Trailing 13-8, John Carroll rattled off five straight points to tie the set at 13-13. Following a Marietta timeout, kills from Ritenour and Arrowood secured the Pioneers' first OAC win of the season.
Marietta travels to the University of Mount Union on Wednesday (Oct. 10) for a 7 p.m. OAC match.
Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
