MARYVILLE, Tenn. – The Marietta College volleyball team fell to defeat on Sunday (Sept. 18) afternoon at the Maryville Invitational. The Pioneers dropped the match to Transylvania University 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-19).
The teams traded leads in the first set. Kills from
Mia Silva (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton) and
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) put the score at 9-8 with Transylvania holding the slim lead. Transylvania would go on a run, scoring seven of the next eight points to gain control. Marietta would answer with five points of their own, fueled by two
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) kills, to cut to the lead to 17-14. Transylvania continued its strong first set play, keeping the pressure on with a mixture of kills and service aces. Cate Scheper provide the closure for set one with a kill and Transylvania won, 25-18.
The second set proved to be a disappointment for Marietta as they had the lead for much of the set, but lost it late. The early offense came from a pair of kills from
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington), and a kill from
Sophie Evans (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta). Marietta extended its lead to 17-12 behind kills from
Ella Boyer (Bay Village, Ohio/Saint Joseph Academy) and
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington). Transylvania hung around but still trailed 23-19 after yet another Boyer kill. Transylvania broke serve with a kill from Madison Sweeney and would not give the ball back to Marietta, scoring the next five point to gain the victory, 25-23
Facing elimination, Marietta fought hard to an 8-7 lead in set three.
Emory Spitler's (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) kill gave Marietta the slim lead. Transylvania answered with three consecutive points to lead 10-8. Marietta got the deficit back to two after kills from Spitler and
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington), putting the score at 20-18. Marietta could not get any closer and fell, 25-19.
The Pioneer offense was led by
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) as she had 15 kills in the match.
Keira Shannon (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah Community) led the defense with 15 digs and
Braya Elsea (Circleville, Ohio/Logan Elm) was close behind with 11 digs.
Marietta will return to the court Wednesday (Sept. 21) when they kick off the Ohio Athletic Conference portion of their schedule. The Pioneers will host John Carroll University, 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.
