MARIETTA, Ohio – The Mount Union women's volleyball team (4-8, 4-8 OAC) dropped a pair to the Pioneers of Marietta (5-5, 5-5 OAC) in an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader in Marietta on Tuesday evening with match scores of 3-2 and 3-1 at Ban Johnson Arena. 

Match One 

The Purple Raiders had three in double digits as senior Madelin DiBease (Perry / Perry)  recorded a double-double with 16 kills and 11 digs, junior Maria Ellesin (Alliance / Marlington) tallied up 14, and sophomore Isabella Sprunger (North Royalton / North Royalton) who had 11. Sophomore Mollie Thomas (Massillon / Massillon Perry) led the way in assists as she recorded 27 on the match as well as 20 digs followed by sophomore Katie May ( ) who had 20. Defensively, sophomore libero Alyssa Kasaris (North Royalton / North Royalton) took charge collecting an impressive 28 digs. 

Mount Union trailed throughout the beginning of the first set, but after a quick Raider timeout, the team was able to rally and knot up the match 15-15. Marietta continued to put up a fight, but the Raiders began to pull away 20-19 off a kill by Sprunger. Mount Union remained tight with the Pioneers taking them to 25-25, but Marietta capitalized and took the first set 27-25. In set two, the Raiders went on a quick 4-0 before the Pioneers picked up their first point of the set. Marietta was able to find a short rally to tie it up with the Raiders at 10, but Mount Union was able to make mistakes from the Pioneer offense to reclaim their lead 17-16 and force a Marietta timeout at 19-17. The Raiders were able to continue to maintain their dominance as they went on to secure the set 25-20 off a kill from DiBease. Marietta went on a 5-1 run to start the third set and force a Raider timeout, and continued their run to go up 13-4. A quick kill by freshman Julia Kerns (Eastlake / Eastlake North) got the Raiders out of their drought but wasn't enough as the Pioneers controlled the majority of the set and took the win 25-11 to go up 2-1 on the match. The Raiders kept tight going back-and-forth with the Pioneers throughout the first half of the set, but the Pioneers rallied 16-13 to force a Raider timeout. Mount Union capitalized on Pioneer errors to rally back to 16 all, and a kill by DiBease put the Raiders up 17-16. An attack error by Marietta put the Raiders up 19-17 and forced a timeout from the Pioneers. Mount Union continued their rally through the remainder of the set and finished it off 25-18 forcing a fifth set off an attack error by Marietta. The Pioneers rallied blanking the Raiders 4-0 to start the set, broken up by a kill from DiBease to put Mount Union on the board. Mount Union found a quick rally to force a Marietta timeout as they trailed 7-9 but were unable to make the come back as they dropped 15-8 on the set and 3-2 on the match. 

Match Two 

The Raiders were led offensively by DiBease who again recorded a double-double as she secured 16 kills and 10 digs on the match. Freshman Maddie Wentz (Copley / Akron Hoban) also had a career-high 13 kills. Senior Abby Van Horssen (Blacklick / Gahanna Lincoln) tallied up four aces on the match, and Thomas again led the Raiders in assists as she recorded 20. Defensively, Mount Union was led by Kasaris as she collected 13 digs as well as Thomas who had 10. 

Mount Union struck first going up 2-1 on the match, but the Pioneers came back and kept close but a block by Kerns, and DiBease put the Raiders up 9-5. Marietta went on a quick run to claim a 13-12 lead and force a Raider timeout but continued their run as they extended their lead to 19-14. The Pioneers continued their rally as they claimed set one with a score of 25-19. Mount Union again kept tight early as they trailed 6-8 in set two, but claim their lead 17-14 on back-to-back kills by DiBease. Wentz found a gap in the Pioneer defense to extend the Raider lead 23-21, but they quickly rallied by to knot it up at 23 and force a Raider timeout. Mount Union came off the timeout with a huge block by Kerns and Sprunger followed by a kill from DiBease to claim the set 25-23. The Raiders went up 5-3 quick in set three, but the Pioneers knotted it back up at six, but the Raiders reclaim their lead to 11-9 off a kill by Sprunger. The Pioneers kept tight but were able to tie it up at 24 apiece and force a Raider timeout as they went up 26-25. Marietta came off the timeout to secure the win 27-25. The Pioneers went on an early 7-4 run in set four off back-to-back errors by the Raiders. But the Raiders were unable to come back as they dropped 25-13 on the set as the Pioneers captured the 3-1 match win. 

Mount Union will continue their OAC season as they travel to Heidelberg for a doubleheader matchup with games set to begin at 1 and 3 pm.