ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Marietta College volleyball team continued their winning ways as they swept a pair of matches at the Mount Union Purple and White Invitational on Saturday (Sept. 2). The Pioneers defeated Ohio Wesleyan University 3-0 (25-21, 25-21, 25-19) in the morning and swept SUNY Brockport 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-18) in the afternoon.
The first set stayed close as both teams battled back in forth. The Pioneers took a 9-5 lead after
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) fired off a pair of kills, giving them the largest lead of the first set. After the Battling Bishops were able to get it back to an 11-all tie, the Pioneers got the serve back when
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) and
Sophie Evans (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) combined on a block. Marietta then rattled off the next four points with kills from
Mia Silva (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton),
Ella Boyer (Bay Village, Ohio/Saint Joseph Academy), and Evans to a take a 16-11 lead. Ohio Wesleyan committed some crucial attack errors to help extend the Pioneers lead and
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) closed the set with a thunderous kill. Marietta took the first set 25-21
The second set stayed even as both teams fought to a 10-10 tie, but the Bishops would go on a run. Ohio Wesleyan scored four straight with kills from Natalie Dieball and Melissa Murray, giving them 14-11 lead. Late in the game, down 20-16, Marietta converted a service ace and then got a kill from
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington). After calling time out, the Pioneers would rush back into the lead with kills from
Emory Spitler (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) and Jillian Feller and eventually close out the set with a 25-21 victory.
The Pioneers rushed out to an early 8-4 lead in set three.
Riley Hohman (Copley, Ohio/Copley) made good on five consecutive serves, aided by kills from Silva, Spitler, and
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington).
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) continued her hot hitting with three more kills to extend the lead to 16-10. Hohman came back around on the rotation and score two more service aces to give the Pioneers their largest lead of the set, 20-12. Ohio Wesleyan cut into the lead a bit but could not overtake the Pioneer lead. A
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) kill at match point finished the match as the Pioneers took the third set, 25-19.
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) led the Marietta offense with 15 kills in the match. Silva finished with eight kills and
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) ended with 6 kills and led the team with two block solos. Sptiler led with 37 assists and, defensively, Marietta had a two Pioneers with double figures in digs.
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) led with 11 digs and Kiera Shannon finished with 10 digs.
Marietta opened the second match of the day strong, as they battled SUNY Brockport to a 7-7 tie in early first set action. A pair of
Ella Boyer (Bay Village, Ohio/Saint Joseph Academy) kills pushed the Pioneer lead to 15-10 and, later in the set,
Mia Silva (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton) connected on three consecutive kills to push lead to 21-12. The Golden Eagles tried to get back into the game as Alexis Sison connected on two straight kills, but the they could overtake the Pioneers.
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) closed out with three kills and the Pioneers took set one, 25-19.
The Pioneers and Golden Eagles fought to an early 9-9 tie in the second set, but Marietta would gain control with a pair of Silva kills. They would push the lead to 20-16 later in the match with kills from the Fellers sister and Silva and would eventually close out the victory, 25-20.
The Pioneers began the third set with a 5-1 lead, but Brockport would fight back to tie it at seven. Brockport committed three consecutive attack errors to help extend the the Pioneer lead to 17-12. Kills from Jillian
Fellers and Spitler closed out the action and Marietta would go on to win, 25-18.
Silva led the offense in game two with a game high 14 kills.
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) added to the offense with 11 kills. Spitler finished with 38 assists. The defense was led by
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) with 6 block assists and Silva chipped in four more block assists.
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) had a team high 13 digs in the match. Kiera Shannon and
Maggie Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) added 12 digs apiece.
Congratulations to
Mia Silva (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton) and
Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) as they were both named to the all-tournament team.
The Pioneers will next travel to the Transylvania Univerisity Invitational this weekend (Sept. 8-9) when they play Marian University Friday afternoon and Coveneant College and host Transylvania Saturday afternoon.
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.
