MARIETTA, Ohio – After dropping the first set, the Marietta College volleyball team took the next three and clinched a tough Ohio Athletic Conference win over Baldwin Wallace University (23-25, 28-26, 25-18, 25-17) on Friday (Oct. 24) evening at the Ban Johnson Arena.  With the win the Pioneers improve to 15-5 overall and stayed unbeaten at 6-0 in the OAC.  With the loss Baldwin Wallace falls to 14-12 overall, and 4-2 in OAC action.  
 
The Pioneers rushed out to a 7-4 early advantage in set one, getting a trio of kills from Emily Piehler (Medina, Ohio/Medina) and a pair from Karley Allwood (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth). A few possessions later, Baldwin Wallace scored four straight to put them into lead for the first time.  Marietta returned the favor with a five-point rally, getting a kill from Piehler and Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington), to jump out to a 14-10 advantage.  The Yellow Jackets again rallied to close the gap, getting a pair of aces from Gabby Schlect, and only trailed by one point.  Later in the match, BW tied it at 20, 22, and after a Pioneer service error, the Jackets tied it at 23.  Schlect then finished the set with two consecutive kills and Baldwin Wallace took the first set, 25-23.
 
The Pioneers jumped out to an early 6-3 lead in set two as Fellers converted a pair of kills.  With the score at 11-9, Marietta took four straight points, two off of kills from Piehler, to extend the lead to six.  BW once again came back with four straight point to cut the lead to two, and later after a Pioneer attack error, trailed by only one point, 17-16.  Both teams traded the next several possessions, but in the closing moments of the set, Karly Launder (Pleasant City, Ohio/Meadowbrook) but the score at set-point, 24-22, with a kill. BW took advantage of a pair of Pioneer errors to turn the tables and found themselves in the lead, 25-24, just a point away from take the set.  AnnaBelle Hacker (Centerville, Ohio/Alter) powered in a kill to tie the score and the Pioneers closed out the set with an ace from Launder and a kill from Fellers to claimed the 28-26 set two victory
 
The third set saw Marietta jump out to a 12-7, but as they did all evening, the Yellow Jackets fought back to close the gap and only trail by one point, 13-12.  The Pioneers then took control as they took six of the next eight possessions, two from kills by Allwood, and led 19-14.  BW tried fight back, but Marietta got another pair of kills from Fellers and cruised to a 25-18 set three victory.
 
The Pioneers fell behind 4-0 to begin set four, but got all of those points back with kills from Fellers and Piehler to knot it up at 4-all.  Later in the match, with BW leading 12-11, Marietta benefited from four Jacket attack errors to push out to a 17-12 advantage.  This time, BW could not fight back as Marietta sent kill after kill.  With the score at 23-17, Fellers and Allwood finished off the set and the match with kills and Marietta claimed the final set, 25-7.  

The Marietta offense was led by Fellers and Piehler with 15 kills apiece with Fellers adding three blocks.  Allwood provided 11 kills and led the block party with four blocks.   Emory Spitler (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) again led the team with 50 assists and also had 19 digs.   Keira Shannon (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah Community) led the Pioneer defense with 35 digs.  

Marietta will return court on Wednesday (Oct. 29) when they travel to battle the University of Mount Union, 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 X and Instagram.