Susquehanna Box Score | Moravian Box Score
Bethlehem, PA — The elephant was clearly in the room Saturday, but it didn't seem to bear much weight on the Messiah women's volleyball program.
A clearly focused Falcons' team handed Susquehanna University a 3-2 (19-25, 20-25, 19-25, 25-19, 15-10) defeat and then followed with a 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-22, 25-18) victory over the host Greyhounds at the Moravian College Tri-Match Saturday, the team's sixth and seventh wins in its last eight matches.
With its post-season life hanging in the balance of Wednesday's MAC Commonwealth tilt with Albright College, Messiah (16-6) did not seem preoccupied, showing resolve in handing a pair of worthy opponents come-from-behind defeats.
“I thought this was a very good weekend for us,” said Judi Tobias, Messiah head coach. “I thought we were able to adjust to some in-game changes, and that's something we haven't always been able to do well. Nobody was absolutely phenomenal today, but we were good enough to win as a team.”
Susquehanna (23-11) looked to make quick work of Tobias' club, responding to a first-set Messiah win with a pair of victories to go up 2-1. A match-best 12 kills in the fourth set kept the Falcons alive, however, and Messiah was able to advance to a fifth stanza for the fourth time of the season.
It was then that Messiah would come alive, recording eight of the set's first 10 points en route to a 10-3 lead. The Crusaders would rally to an 11-9 difference with the help of three Falcons' service errors, but a pair of kills from senior Trisha Trosper and another from junior Samantha Bradley helped quell the comeback attempt in a 15-10 close-out decision.
Senior Amy Mattie finished with a team-leading 14 kills on a .333 attack percentage, while Trosper posted 12 on just 33 swings (.242). Messiah recorded 87 digs in the win, led by senior Meghan Morrissey's 26. Senior Leslie Heffner scooped 17, while sophomore Lauren Lathrop (16), Mattie (11) and junior Lauren Bourdon (10) helped the club's passing effort as well.
That aspect kept Messiah's offense running smoothly, as Tobias said the team passed perfectly on 50 percent of its opportunities throughout the afternoon.
“We grade ourselves on a three, two, one (passing) scale, and (50 percent perfect passing) is a good day for us,” Tobias said. “That means you can run some things and have some freedom in your offense.”
Messiah's passing was again impressive against Moravian (11-13) in the event capper, as the Falcons registered 88 total digs, the squad's second-highest amount in any match on the season. An early, 20-16 lead in the initial set led to a disappointing 23-25 loss, but again Tobias' club responded, this time winning the next three stanzas by an incremental increase in scoring margin. A pair of Moravian attack errors propelled the Falcons to its second-set, 25-23 win after a 23-23 deadlock, while a 24-15 Messiah lead in the third manifested into a 25-22 win.
When a service ace from Morrissey was sandwiched by kills from Bradley and Mattie in the fourth set, Messiah had claimed an 11-1 lead and vowed not to look back. Moravian was able to claw within a 22-17 difference late, but a kill from Trosper and then Bourdon sealed the deal in a 25-18 final.
Mattie and Bradley were again the offensive leaders, posting 13 kills each. Heffner finished with eight attacks for points to complement 14 digs, a number outdone only by the defensive specialist Morrissey, who finished with 28.
Saturday's wins now place only time between the Falcons' winner-take-all match with Albright, as Messiah will next host the Lions in Brubaker Auditorium Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to the MAC Commonwealth Playoffs as the league's fourth seed. The loser will miss out on post-season play altogether.
“We now need to prepare well, be aggressive and focus on playing our game,” Tobias said of the pending match-up. “If we play like we did today, we should be all right. We played confidently and aggressively today. We had the mindset of, 'this is our goal, let's go out and accomplish it.' We weren't back on our heels. We'll need the same approach Wednesday.”
