FRANKLIN, Ind. – The Marietta College volleyball team split its final day of competition at the Franklin College Tournament on Saturday (Sept. 7) afternoon. The Pioneers won their first match of the day in straight sets, 3-0 (25-21, 25-18, 25-20). Marietta fell in their final match of the tournament to host Franklin College, 3-2 (17-25, 20-25, 25-14, 25-18, 10-15). The split put the Pioneers record at 7-1 overall.
Oglethorpe jumped out to an early 11-5 lead to open the first set. Marietta responded to tie the set at 15 points apiece. The Pioneer run was sparked by a pair of kills from
Hailey Fuller (Newark, Ohio/Granville) and
Sam Ritenour (Jeffersonville, Ohio/Miami Trace).
Brooke Trimble (Lexington, Ky./Henry Clay) put Marietta on top with back to back kills and
Alissa Ginther (Beverly, Ohio/Fort Frye) put the set away with the final three kills of the first set. The Pioneers won the first set, 25-21.
The Stormy Petrels once again grabbed an early 7-2 advantage. Marietta answered to tie the second set at 12-12. After a point by Oglethorpe the Pioneers went on a 5-0 run and took a 17-13 lead. The run was sparked by kills from Ginther, and
Maris Kaiser (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy). Marietta continued to play well and won the second set, 25-18.
The third and final set started out as a close battle and the set remained tied at 13 points apiece. The Pioneers took an 18-14 lead behind a 5-1 run, which was sparked by a kill from Trimble and a service ace from
Maddie Nader (Vermilion, Ohio/Vermilion). Marietta closed out the game, and won the decisive set, 25-20.
In the Pioneers second match of the day, the Grizzles opened quick with the first three points of the set. Marietta battled back to take a 6-5 edge behind a kill from Ritenour and an ace from
April Davis (Aurora, Ohio/Aurora). Franklin regained the lead and won the first set, 25-17.
The Grizzles carried their momentum over to the second set, and took an early 5-1 edge. The Pioneers answered to tie the game at 9-9, and continued to play well to stretch out a 15-11 advantage. The Marietta run was sparked by Kaiser as she notched three kills. Franklin regained the lead late in the second set, and won 25-20.
The third set was a back and forth battle early as it remained tied at 8-8. The Pioneers offense exploded to take an 18-11 lead. The offense was led by a pair of kills from Ritenour and Ginther. Marietta won the third set, 25-14.
The fourth set was close early, but the Pioneers were able to stretch out a lead through the middle of the fourth set, and grabbed a 19-13 edge. Marietta forced a fifth set, as they won the fourth set, 25-18.
The Grizzles grabbed the early 8-5 edge in the fifth and final set to force a Pioneers timeout. Franklin held on to win the final set, 15-10.
Marietta was led by Ritenour on offense, as she had 27 kills between the two matches. Ginther added firepower with 23 kills on the day. Defensively, the Pioneers were led by Davis as she had a combined 29 digs. Nader set up the Marietta offense all day as she tallied 71 assists.
Marietta will be. Back in action Wednesday (Sept. 11) when they travel to take on Kenyon College, with the game scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Fans can follow all of 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.
