ALLIANCE Ohio – The Marietta College volleyball team suffered their first loss of 2022 but came back in the afternoon to split on day two of the Mount Union Purple and White Invitational on Saturday (Sept. 10).  The Pioneers were defeated in dramatic fashion by Mount St. Joseph 3-2 (18-25, 25-23, 25-16, 24-26, 6-15) in the morning and swept Allegheny College 3-0 (25-15, 25-16, 25-16) in the afternoon.  

The Lions jumped out to an early 7-3 lead in the opening frame of the match.  Marietta got early kills from Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) and Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) but Mount St. Joseph held strong and kept the Pioneers to short stints at the service line.  The Lions put the lead at 15-9 after Brooke Aselage registered a kill, and a few points later, Aselage would extend the lead to 19-11 with yet another kill. The Pioneers fought hard but were unable to mount a comeback and dropped their first set of the season, 25-18.  

The second set was a back and forth affair, as the score was tied on 11 different occasions. The early Marietta offense came from the Marietta front row made of the Fellers sisters, Sophie Evans (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta), and Mia Silva (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton).  After the Lions pushed out to a 15-12 lead, the Pioneers got on the comeback trail with a Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) kill and Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) ace.  The Lions continued to keep the pressure on by extending the lead to 17-14, but Mia Silva (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton) broke serve with a kill and Emory Spitler (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) tied it by skipping the assist and notching the kill.  Still, Mount St. Joseph took the lead back to 23-20.  The Pioneers benefited from a Lion service error and would not give the serve back.  Megan Marshall was successful on four consecutive serves, including an ace and the Pioneers finished the set with a 25-23 victory.

Marietta began the third set with a 4-1 lead but the Lions would fight back to tie it at four.  Silva would then take a set from Keira Shannon (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah Community) and bring it down for a thunderous kill to give Marietta back the lead.  The Pioneers would extend the lead to 9-4, fueled by two Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) aces, but the Lion would fight back yet again to tie it at 11.  Marietta would go on to score nine of the next 10 points to lead, 20-12.  Mount St. Joseph could not close the gap any further, and fell in the third set, 25-16.
The Pioneer got off to a quick start in the fourth set hoping to close out the match, but Lions proved to be tough to put away.  The Pioneers led 6-2 after a Shannon kill, and 14-9 after a Boyer kill.  Marietta enjoyed their biggest lead at 18-12, but the Lions came back. They won eight of the next 10 points, closing the gap to 21-20.  Marietta reached set point, 24-21, with a Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) kill, but had their serve broke on a service error.  The Lions would win the next four points and force a fifth set with a 26-24 win.

In the deciding fifth set, Mount St. Joseph would take the lead, 4-3, off of three consecutive Grace Wilking service aces.  Spitler notched a kill for the Pioneers to cut into the lead to 9-6, but after a Pioneer service error, the Lion would close out the match with five consecutive kills and win, 15-9.     

Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) led the Pioneers with 15 kills, Silva added 14 kills, and Ella Boyer (Bay Village, Ohio/Saint Joseph Academy) collected 10 kills during the match.  Braya Elsea (Circleville, Ohio/Logan Elm) led the defensive effort with a game high 16 digs, and tallied an ace.  
 
Marietta opened the second match of the day strong, wanting to shake the disappointment from earlier in the day.  Marietta raced out to an 8-4 lead over Allegheny College, paced by three Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) kills.  They then extended the lead to 17-10, fueled by kills from Ella Boyer (Bay Village, Ohio/Saint Joseph Academy), Mia Silva (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton), and Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington).  The Pioneers would never look back and they took the first set, 25-15.   

The Pioneers took control early in set two, running out to a 10-5 lead.   After a mini Gator rally, Marietta would win 10 of the next 12 points, many due to some Allegheny attack errors. Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) finished the set off with a kill and the Pioneers would win, 25-16.
 
The third set was reminiscent of the of the second as the Pioneers would go on to smalls runs of four and five point and would go on to grab a commanding 23-14 lead.  Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) had the hot hand ion the set with five kills and Silva would finish the match with a kill to give the Pioneers a 25-16 victory.
 
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) led the offense in game two with a game high 12 kills.  Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) and Mia Silva (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton) finished with nine kills.  Emory Spitler (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) finished with 32 assists.   The defense was led by Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington), she had a team high 14 digs in the match.  Shannon added 12 digs.   

The Pioneers will return to action Saturday (Sept. 17) when they participate in the Maryville (TN) Invitational.  They will battle Covenant College at noon and the host Maryville College at 2:30 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.