Box Score
Grantham, PA — There was an easy way and a hard way for the Messiah volleyball program Wednesday night.
The Falcons elected to keep it simple.
A 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 26-24) win over Albright College secured the fourth and final MAC Commonwealth Conference Playoffs slot for the team, while a loss would have plausibly set into motion a lengthy tie-breaking procedure — one that would have required significant help from the outside for Messiah to advance to the post-season.
In hindsight, Messiah (17-6, 3-3) would have not qualified for the league tournament had they lost. That information was moot to Falcons' head coach Judi Tobias, as the team will now face top-seeded Lebanon Valley College in one of the tournament's semi-finals next Wednesday.
“We're thrilled to be going to the playoffs,” Tobias said following Wednesday's sweep. “We knew if we won tonight, we were in. We didn't want to even think about what needed to happen (for us to make it) had we lost.”
If there was any trepidation concerning the magnitude of the match against Albright (5-27, 1-5), Tobias' club was quick to quell such concern. A 7-1 run midway through the first set turned an 11-11 score into an 18-12 Falcons' lead, while an 11-8 Messiah advantage ballooned to a 20-11 lead in the second stanza.
The only true drama came in the evening's third and final set, where a makeshift starting lineup needed a late comeback to capture a 26-24 decision in extra points, completing Messiah's 11th 3-0 win of the season.
“I thought we handled tonight well,” Tobias said. “We were excited to play, no question, but overall it was a good effort across the board.”
A pair of kills from senior Amy Mattie started the aforementioned run in the night's first set, while a follow-up kill from classmate Leslie Heffner made it a 14-11 contest midway through. A violent swing from junior Samantha Bradley was followed by a tip kill on the next exchange, giving Messiah a 20-13 advantage.
Three straight service aces from Heffner pushed the lead to 23-13, while Heffner's diving save on an errant pass somehow found the floor across the net, ending the stanza at 25-16.
Messiah used a methodical attack to slowly pull away from the Lions in the second round of action, with a monstrous assist block from Heffner and freshman Brynn Lettieri serving as the highlight at 17-10. The Falcons finished with another destructive swing from Bradley to make it a 24-14 affair, while a kill from senior Trisha Trosper finished things off.
With firm control of the match obtained, Tobias altered her lineup significantly in the third set, starting regulars Mattie, Lettieri and senior Meghan Morrissey along with sophomore Jessica Gould and freshmen Cassy Diamond and Emily Hall. Messiah found itself down 15-18 before making an impressive comeback, riding mostly on the right arm of Diamond. The first-year student from Arizona blasted seven kills on just 11 attempts with only one hitting error, finishing with an incredible .545 attack percentage to lead the charge.
Diamond registered an attack for point to help pull the Falcons within an 18-19 difference, and was at it again to turn a 20-23 contest into a 21-23 affair.
When Diamond notched her last kill of the night following a pair of Albright ball handling errors, the scoreboard read 24-23, Messiah. A kill from the Lions knotted things up momentarily, but two Albright attack errors ended things somewhat anticlimactically.
Diamond, Heffner and Bradley all finished with seven kills to lead the Falcons, while Mattie charted six and both Trosper and Lettieri accounting for five. Junior Lauren Bourdon ran the offense for the first two sets (21 assists) before giving way to Gould in the third (11 helpers), while Morrissey and Mattie shared match-high dig honors with 12 apiece.
“We were able to string some points together tonight, and that was good to see,” Tobias said. “We've been working on establishing a lead and then really focusing on keeping it. It's a mental thing, not letting the (opposing) team up for air. No bubbles. Tonight we did that pretty well. Cassy came on strong in the third, and did some smart stuff. Her one error was the exact thing we've been working with her on. She's really starting to learn. She's beginning to show some variety in her attack and do different things with the ball instead of just hitting hard.”
The Falcons will next host its own tri-match Saturday, constituting the team's final home event of the season. The club's primary focus will undoubtedly be on Lebanon Valley, however, as the Dutchmen boast a perfect 6-0 regular-season conference mark heading into the post-season while going 29-2 overall this year.
“LVC is a very good team,” Tobias said. “They have a variety of good hitters and make it very tough to put the ball on the floor. We just have to capitalize on their mistakes and minimize ours. We'll have to play a smart game, give them different looks and be aggressive across the net.”
Messiah's tri-match will feature York College and Montclair State University Saturday. The event is slated to begin at 10 a.m. in Brubaker Auditorium.
