ADA, Ohio – The Marietta College volleyball dropped a pair of matches against Ohio Northern University on Friday (March 12) evening to open its 2020-21 campaign. The Pioneers lost the first match of the night 3-1 (25-20, 12-25, 18-25, 25-27), and dropped the second match 3-2 (23-25, 17-25, 25-19, 25-21, 12-15).
"I am proud of the fight I saw in my team tonight. They were scrappy, tough, and didn't give up," said Head Coach
Kristy Newman. "The outcome wasn't in our favor, but I am confident we will build from here."
Ohio Northern scored the first three points of the set, to lead 3-0 early on. Marietta answered with a 7-1 run to take a 7-4 edge. During the run, the Pioneers had kills from
Hailey Fuller (Newark, Ohio/Granville),
April Davis (Aurora, Ohio/Aurora), and
Maris Kaiser (Lewis Center, Ohio/Olentangy). Marietta stretched its lead to 18-11 late in the first set, behind kills from
Sam Ritenour (Jeffersonville, Ohio/Miami Trace),
Becca Phelps (Mansfield, Ohio/Madison Comprehensive), and Fuller. Ohio Northern battled back to make the score 20-19, but the Pioneers scored five of the final six points, and won the opening set, 25-20.
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) drove home the final kill of the opening set.
Once again, the Polar Bears jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, before Marietta scored three out of the next four points to trail, 4-3. The early offense came from kills from Ritenour, and. Phelps. Ohio Northern stretched out a 12-4 edge behind a 7-1 run. The Polar Bears continued its strong play and won the second set, 25-12.
The Pioneers held an early 2-1 lead behind a kill from Fellers. Ohio Northern answered with seven straight points to lead 8-2. Marietta responded to score eight of the next 11 points, and trimmed the Polar Bears lead to 11-10. The rally was sparked by a pair of kills from Kaiser and Phelps. Ohio Northern scored nine of the next 11 points to lead, 20-13 late in the set, and the Polar Bears won set three, 25-18.
Ohio Northern opened the fourth set with a 7-5 lead. The Pioneers answered with four consecutive points to take a 9-7 advantage, highlighted by a kill from Fellers. Marietta continued to play well, and held a 14-10 edge behind an ace from
Abbi Thompson (Commercial Point, Ohio/Teays Valley). The Polar Bears rallied to score eight of the next nine points and regained an 18-15 edge. The Pioneers fought until the very end, they tied the game at 23 points, 24 points, and 25 points, before falling in the final set, 27-25.
In the second match of the night, Marietta jumped out to a 5-1 lead. The early offense came from Ritenour, Kaiser, and Phelps. The Pioneers continued to play well and led 17-11, behind three kills from Kaiser. Ohio Northern battled back to make the score 21-20 to force Marietta timeout. The Polar Bears completed the comeback and won the first set, 25-23.
The second set was back and forth early, as the game was tied four times and remained deadlocked at 5-5. The early Pioneer offense came from a kill by Fellers. Later in the set, Ohio Northern stretched out a 16-11, Marietta battled for the remainder of the set but fell, 25-17.
The Pioneers took an early 4-1 advantage to open the third set, behind a kill from Fuller. The middle of the set was a back and forth battle as the set was tied 12 times, and remained tied at 18 points apiece. Marietta rattled off five straight points and led 23-18 with a pair of kills from Ritenour, and a kill from Kaiser. The Pioneers won the third set, 25-19.
The fourth set was tight early, as the game was tied at 4-4. Three straight Marietta points put the Pioneers on top 7-4. The Polar Bears battled back to tie the game at 10-10, and the game remained tied at 14 points apiece. Marietta was able to take a 21-16 edge late in the set, with a block from Fellers, and Phelps. The Pioneers won the fourth set, 25-21 behind a kill from Kaiser.
Ohio Northern grabbed a 6-2 lead to open the fifth and final set, to force a Marietta timeout. Out of the timeout, the Pioneers trimmed the lead to 6-4 with kills from Thompson and Ritenour. The Polar Bears regained their momentum and won the final set, 15-12.
Offensively the Pioneers were led by Phelps, combined in the two matches she had 27 kills, including a game high 17 in the second match of the day. Ritenour added 23 kills on the night. Kaiser and Fellers tallied 20 and 14 kills respectively. Fellers led the team with six blocks on the night. Defensively Marietta was led by Thompson, she had 33 digs in the two games. Davis added 17 digs on the night.
Marietta will return to the court Tuesday (March 16) when they host Otterbein University, with game one scheduled to begin at 6 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.
