Written by: Zachary Worstell (zdw001@marietta.edu)
It is no secret that the Marietta College volleyball team had one of its best seasons in program history. The team garnered national recognition for their performance in the regular season and made their way into the postseason. This marked the volleyball program’s first NCAA tournament appearance. But how did Marietta get this far and why was this season so successful?
The season started in Alliance, Ohio for the Mount Union Invitational. Here, Marietta swept their competition winning three games. The first came against the University of Rochester whom they beat 3-0, they beat Albion College 3-1 and defeated #18 ranked Calvin University 3-1.
The Pioneer team carried this momentum into their next two tournaments garnishing an undefeated streak that would mark Marietta’s season. The team started with a 3-0 win over the University of Scranton, and the following day defeated Westminster College 3-0 and Carnegie Mellon University 3-1. The following week they won 3-0 over Earlham College and won a close matchup over hosts Mount St. Joseph 3-2. This early season success war earned with recognition from the AVCA Coaches Poll ranking them at 22nd.
Marietta followed this up with a win against Bethany College before they made their BanJo season debut. Here the Pio squad faced off against #21 Case Western Reserve University in a 3-0 win for the Pioneers. This ranked win boosted Marietta up the rankings to #16 in the country. A 3-1 win over Denison University marked a break in non-conference matchups.
In October, Marietta started their OAC journey with a back-and-forth matchup with Ohio Northern University. Fortunately, the Pios kept their undefeated record alive with a 3-2 victory. Marietta continued to climb up the national rankings marking wins over Otterbein University, Heidelberg University, and Capital University. These conference victories boosted the college to #11 in the nation.
Marietta took a break from OAC matchups to face Wittenberg University in a game that was rescheduled from September. Wittenberg started off strong taking the first two sets, and while Marietta faced their first loss of the season, they came back and dominated the second two sets sending the game into overtime. After the Tigers started with a lead, the Pio squad went on a run and were able to take the fifth set to stay undefeated at 16-0.
The blue and white came back with a 3-0 win over John Carroll University and beat rival Muskingum University 3-2. Marietta finished the regular season without dropping a set gaining wins over Baldwin Wallace University, Mount Union, Wilmington College, and Ohio Wesleyan University. The Pioneers finished the season 22-0, #8 in the AVCA poll, and OAC regular season champions. However, their season wasn’t over yet.
Clinching a round bye in the OAC tournament, Marietta faced off against No. 4 seed John Carroll in the Semifinals. Etta swept them in three close sets and moved on to the finals against No. 2 seed Otterbein. While they had beat the Cardinals 3-1 earlier in the season, Otterbein had bettered Marietta and took the OAC championship with a 3-1 win.
Despite this loss, Marietta was awarded with home field advantage for the regionals of the NCAA tournament. In the first round, Marietta faced the Empire 8 conference champion St. John Fisher whom they beat in four sets to move onto the second round. Here the Pios hosted CCIW champions Illinois Wesleyan. The Titans and the Pioneers exchanged leads before going back and forth failing to get larger than a two-point lead. It took the Titans all the way to 30 points to win the first set. The rest of the sets were close as well with Illinois Wesleyan getting the best of Marietta sweeping them in the series. This marked an end of the road for the Pioneer season finishing with a 24-2 record.
