Written by: Zachary Worstell (zdw001@marietta.edu)
The Pioneers Volleyball team will not be back in the NCAA Tournament this year. Last year Marietta College made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament after losing to Otterbein in the OAC championship game. This season the lady Pios lost once more to the Otterbein Cardinals in the OAC championship in the Ban Johnson Arena.
The team finished the season 17-8 and finished 30th in the last AVCA Coaches Poll on November 11th. The week beforehand Marietta was ranked 24th at 16-6. They dropped due to losing their season finale on the road versus Wittenberg University 3-1.
During the regular season Marietta College finished 7-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Their only loss came on the road versus Mount Union where they lost 3-1.
With that they were seeded #1 in the OAC postseason tournament for the second year in a row. In the semifinals Marietta faced Ohio Northern after the Polar Bears defeated Baldwin Wallace in the quarterfinals will Marietta held the bye. At the BanJo, the Pioneers defeated the Polar Bears 3-1.
In the finals versus Otterbein, Marietta came off to a slow start losing the first set 25-14. The second set was kept close but the Pioneers were down two as they lost 25-23. Marietta attempted to mount their comeback taking the third set 25-19. Ultimately, they dropped the final set 25-18 losing the OAC championship to Otterbein once again.
With that win, the Otterbein Cardinals will play Wittenberg in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
With a 2-3 record versus ranked opponents, the Pioneers were left out of the NCAA postseason tournament.
The Pioneers had four players named to the All-OAC Team. Senior setter Emory Spitler, senior outside hitter Jillian Fellers, and junior middle blocker AnnaBelle Hacker all earned first team honors. Senior libero Keira Shannon was named honorable mention.
In particular, Spitler was named OAC Player of the Year as she led the OAC in assist per set at 10.55. Offensively, she had 948 assist and 75.5 points and defensively she was third for the Pioneers with 3.1 digs pet set. Shannon led the team in digs with 5.13 pet set while Fellers led the team in points with 4.14 points per set and 3.56 kills per set.
