Breanna Crognale
Staff Writer

It was a busy homecoming weekend for the Millersville University volleyball players, who were host to Lock Haven University on Friday and the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown on Saturday. The Lady Marauders swept both matches by identical 3-1 scores.
Early on in the opening set against Lock Haven, the girls went back and forth, trading points. In the end it was the Bald Eagles who pulled away to win it 25-21. In the second set the girls saw their 17-12 lead disappear as the Bald Eagles ripped off eight consecutive points. Faced with a potential two-set deficit, Millersville regrouped to pull within one, with the score 20-19. The Lady Marauders refused to throw in the towel and fought back to win the set 25-21. Millersville trailed for a majority of the third set, where they experienced another slow start. They led at one point, 17-16, but the Bald Eagles fought back, refusing to go down quietly. Now down 18-17, Millersville head coach Brian Smith called a time out, which seemed to reenergize his team. They quickly tallied four straight points, with kills by Kayla Wallace and Rhianna Kalescky to take a 21-18 lead. The Lady Marauders went on to win the third set 25-21. Millersville exploded in the fourth set, racing out to an early 7-1 lead over Lock Haven. They were in complete control from start to finish as they cruised to a decisive 25-16 victory over the Bald Eagles. It was an impressive victory by the Marauders. Both Katie Lesinski and Wallace registered 11 kills for the Lady Marauders, while Rebecca Roman added 10. Mary Paul had eight kills and Emily Kaledas contributed three of Millersville’s 49 kills. Defensively, the team was led by Brooklyn Smith, who had 24 of their 76 digs, while Lesinski had 16.

Saturday’s match against the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown saw the Lady Marauders drop the first set 25-13. Millersville suffered an embarrassing beatdown on their home court at the hands of the Mountain Cats. The girls managed to put the ugly loss in the back of their minds as they steadily began overpowering the Mountain Cats. Both teams appeared evenly matched in the second set, until Millersville took a 12-11 lead off an attack error by Marissa Erminio. It was all Marauders the rest of the way as they took command, winning 25-18. Millersville looked like a completely different team on the court during the third set. The Lady Marauders delivered a dominating performance, effectively rebounding from a tough loss earlier in the match. Millersville began by tallying seven straight points, to take a 9-2 lead over the Mountain Cats. They were in the driver’s seat right from the start, and never took their foot off the gas. The girls never trailed, cruising to a 25-14 win. Pitts-Johnstown managed to keep the score close in the beginning of the final set, where they had tied it at seven. Millersville proceeded to score three straight points, effectively putting distance between themselves and the Mountain Cats. The teams traded points for the remainder of the match, with the home team increasing their lead to take the fourth set 25-18. Offensively, Millersville was led by Lesinski, who had 17 of their 51 kills. Roman added 11, while Paul registered 10 kills and Wallace had seven. Defensively, Smith had 13 of the team’s 35 digs, while Taylor Smith and Jessica Franz added seven and four respectively. Millersville improved their record to 12-12 for the season with a .500 winning percentage. The team is off until Friday, November 1 when they will travel to West Chester for a start time of 7 p.m.