WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Marietta College volleyball team dropped a match 3-0 (12-25, 21-25, 21-25) to Otterbein on Wednesday (Oct. 25) evening. With the loss the Pioneers fall to 12-11 overall and 6-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference and with the victory the Cardinals improve to 19-7 overall and 8-0 in OAC play.
Otterbein got off to a quick 9-3 lead in the first set, getting a pair of kills each from Maddie Mergen, Madison McCoy, and Kennedy Hoffman.
Mia Silva (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton) and
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) provided kills that briefly stopped the momentum, but the Cardinals ran off nine of the next 11 points to lead 19-7. Silva converted on another kill and Marietta took advantage of a pair of Otterbein attack errors in an attempt to stay close, but the Cardinals scored the final four points and took the first set, 25-12.
Marietta got off to a much better start in the second set, jumping out to a 11-8 lead.
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) caught fire during that stretch with four kills. Otterbein rushed back with a four-point rally to retake the lead, 12-11. After the two teams traded some lead changes, the Cardinals began to close the gap, this time with a five point rally and now leading 23-19. The Pioneers got one more kill from Fellers, but could not catch up and Otterbein took the set, 25-21.
The two teams remained close in the third set until the Cardinals strung together some impressive kills from Hoffman and McCoy, pushing out to a 10-6 lead. A kill from
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) and an ace from
Keira Shannon (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah Community) helped cut the lead to one, 12-11. Kills from
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) and
Annabelle Hacker (Centerville, Ohio/Alter) and an ace from
Emory Spitler (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) put the Pioneers back into a one-point lead, but Otterbein took the next four possessions to take firm control of the match. Marietta could not overcome the margin and the Cardinals cruised to a 25-21 set three victory.
The Pioneer offense was led by
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) with 11 kills and
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) had nine kills in the match. Defensively, Marietta was led by
Keira Shannon (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah Community) and
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) as they both tallied 15 digs apiece.
The Pioneers will return to the home Saturday (Oct. 28) when they host Ohio Northern, with the match scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
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 X and Instagram.
