ALLIANCE, Ohio – The Marietta College volleyball team hit the court early on day two of the Mount Union Invitational and defeated Alfred University 3-0 (25-11, 25-20, 25-18) Saturday (Aug 30) morning.  With the win, the Pioneers improved to 3-0.  The Saxons move to 0-3 on the season.

The two teams were deadlocked in the early moments of the first set.  With the score tied at 7-all, the Pioneers pushed forward with four straight kills, two from Emily Piehler (Medina, Ohio/Medina).   Jillian Fellers (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) followed with two straight kills to put the score at 14-8.  Later in the match, Marietta took seven straight points to take control of the set and cruised to 25-11 set one victory.
 
Fellers made her mark on set two as she collected six kills, helping to give Marietta an early 9-5 advantage.  The Saxons came back to tie it 11, fueled by a pair of kills from Taylor Joy.  Halee Williams (Belpre, Ohio/Belpre) came off the bench to provide a spark for the Pioneers, powering a pair of kills to Marietta a three-point lead.  Alfred could not get any closer throughout the set.  Marietta clinched set two with kills from AnnaBelle Hacker (Centerville, Ohio/Alter) and Karley Allwood (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth) and Marietta sealed the second set victory, 25-20.
 
Both teams began set three trading points, but the the score at 6-all, the Pioneers got kills from Emily Grant (Dennison, Ohio/Claymont) and Taylor Wake (Massillon, Ohio/Massillon Jackson) to take the lead.  Later in the match, Marietta extended the lead with a mix of two Allwood kills and some Saxon attack errors, pushing the lead to 20-14.  Alfred could not make up the difference and Marietta closed out the set and the match, 25-18.
 
Fellers led the Marietta offense with 13 kills and contributed nine digs in the match.  Hacker added seven kills and led the team with five blocks.  Allwood finished with five kills and four blocks.  Emory Spitler (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) led with 22 assists and also collected five digs defensively.  Keira Shannon (Roscoe, Ill./Hononegah Community) once again led the Pioneers with 12 digs.

After all games were completed, an all-tournament team was named.  Fellers and Hacker were both named to the team.  
 
The Pioneers will next travel to the Juniata ASICS Invitational this weekend (Sept. 5-6) where they play preseason #1 ranked Juniata College Friday evening at 7 p.m and Ithaca College and Mehlenberg College 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 X and Instagram.