Marietta College closed its regular-season non-conference schedule with a straight-sets win on Thursday, Nov. 5, defeating Thiel College 3-0 in a neutral-site match at Muskingum University in New Concord, according to Marietta College Athletics. The set scores were 25-23, 25-14 and 25-19, giving the Pioneers a clean sweep heading into postseason play.
The opener was the closest set of the afternoon, with six ties and four lead changes, Marietta College Athletics reported. Thiel built a 17-13 lead and still led 21-17 late before Marietta rallied, tying the set at 21-21 on a Thiel ball-handling error and consecutive Tomcat attack errors. Karley Allwood added a kill to tie it at 23-all and helped on a block for set point, and Marietta took the frame 25-23 when a Thiel attack went wide.
Marietta took control in the second set after the teams traded early points. AnnaBelle Hacker recorded a pair of kills during a five-point surge that built a 9-4 lead, and Emily Piehler helped stretch the margin to 12-5, according to Marietta College Athletics. McKenzie Heil sparked another five-point run with three kills to make it 19-10, and back-to-back blocks by Karly Launder and Hacker pushed the lead to 22-12 before Marietta closed out a 25-14 win.
Thiel briefly led 3-2 in the third set before Launder and Hacker answered with kills to put Marietta back in front. The Pioneers built leads of 8-5 and then 16-10, their largest of the set, before Thiel cut the deficit to 22-18. Allwood stopped the run with a kill, Piehler added another for match point, and Allwood set Launder for the match-clinching kill in a 25-19 finish, Marietta College Athletics reported.
Piehler led the Marietta offense with 12 kills, while Launder finished with eight kills and 14 digs and Hacker added seven kills, according to Marietta College Athletics. Elyse Smith directed the attack with 24 assists, 10 digs and a service ace. Sarah Podkul collected nine digs, and Kamryn Haynes, from Williamstown, West Virginia, contributed eight digs.
Launder, from Pleasant City in Guernsey County and a Meadowbrook graduate, was one of several Ohio players in central roles for the Pioneers, alongside Heil, Hacker, Piehler and Allwood. The balanced line — hitting, blocking and back-row defense spread across the lineup — carried Marietta through both the first-set comeback and the more comfortable second and third sets.
With the victory, Marietta completed the regular season at 16-10 overall, according to Marietta College Athletics. The Pioneers now turn to the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament, where the fifth-seeded team travels to face the University of Mount Union in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, Nov. 10, with a scheduled 7 p.m. start. Fans can follow the Pioneers through Marietta College Athletics at pioneers.marietta.edu.
Photo: w_lemay, CC BY