Rutgers-Newark Box Score | Baruch Box Score | New Jersey City Box Score
New York, NY — All things considered, it was a pretty good fall break for the Messiah College volleyball program.
In addition to winning three matches by 3-0 scores over the span of just two days, 13th-year head coach Judi Tobias collected her 200th career win in the team's initial match against Rutgers University-Newark Thursday.
If that weren't enough, the squad then spent the majority of two days touring the Big Apple.
Pretty good use of a four-day weekend, at least by Tobias' account.
“It was a really fun weekend for us,” Tobias said. “We played really, really well both days, and then we had some really good team bonding time in the city. For not having an off weekend over our (school's) fall break (recess), this was definitely the next best thing.”
Messiah (13-5) started off its three-match in two-day span quickly, handing Rutgers University-Newark a 25-7, 25-15, 25-17 hammering Thursday afternoon. All available players participated for the Falcons, while none had more than six kills (freshman Brynn Lettieri) or seven digs (freshman Lauren Lathrop).
The most notable factoid from Thursday's match was Tobias' surpassing of the 200-win milestone, while Messiah's weekend placed her career record at 202-172 (.540).
“Rutgers struggled against us, and we were solid,” Tobias said. “We went to a 5-1 lineup this weekend, and we stayed with it. We played it really well, and both setters (junior Lauren Bourdon and sophomore Jessica Gould) ran it effectively.”
Little seemed to change against Baruch College (a 25-17, 25-12, 25-15 Messiah win) or New Jersey City University (a 25-23, 25-20, 25-14 Falcons' decision) Friday, as Tobias' squad scorched both clubs for sweeping wins on the campus of Baruch.
Against the hosts, Messiah hit at a .283 cumulative clip, the second-highest mark of the season to date. Senior Leslie Heffner tallied a team-best 10 kills and 12 digs, while classmate Amy Stabler (eight kills, seven digs) and junior Samantha Bradley (eight kills, three digs) complemented her.
Senior Meghan Morrissey scooped 10 digs in that win while Mattie provided a match-high five service aces.
Against New Jersey City, the Falcons faced their toughest competition of the weekend, only to record the team's ninth 3-0 win of the season. A 23-21 Falcons' lead was trimmed to a 23-23 tie in the first set of that match, but an attack error from the Gothic Knights was followed by a block courtesy of Heffner and Lettieri.
That 25-23 win was followed by gradient improvement, as the Falcons culminated with a .267 attack percentage, 25-14 third-set win to close out the competitive portion of its weekend.
Mattie led the offensive attack against New Jersey City, collecting 11 kills on a .370 hitting clip. Morrissey charted a weekend-best 19 digs, while Bradley, Heffner, Lettieri and freshman Cassy Diamond each recorded two block assists.
“New Jersey City was by far the best team we faced (over the weekend), and we played well against them,” Tobias said. “We were able to watch them play against Baruch, which helped. Overall, it was a very good couple days of volleyball for us.”
With the matches complete, Messiah hit the streets of Manhattan both Friday night and Saturday, making trips to the Statue of Liberty, the World Trade Center site and Broadway, among other NYC locales.
“It was just a really fun way to spend a couple days,” Tobias said. “Hopefully this helps us a bit in respect to team camaraderie as we get into the home stretch of our season.”
Messiah will next travel to Penn State University-Harrisburg Thursday night for a non-conference meeting. Match time is set for 7 p.m.
