Box Score
Grantham, PA — Facing arguably the most dominating team on its 2009 schedule to date, Messiah dropped a 3-1 (17-25, 25-22, 17-25, 17-25) decision to Commonwealth Conference foe Lebanon Valley College Wednesday night at Brubaker Auditorium, only the squad's second league loss of the season.
Lebanon Valley (23-1, 4-1) finished with 77 total digs — the most of any Messiah opponent this season — and took advantage of 14 service errors from the Falcons to secure the Dutchmen's eighth straight win over Messiah.
“We play them every year and saw them against York (College) a little while ago,” said Judi Tobias, Messiah head coach. “We had a pretty good feel for their system. We also checked out their big hitters and what we needed to do to stop them. Basically, we prepared for them like any other team.”
Messiah (10-11, 3-2) competitive in Wednesday's first set, but a late surge by Lebanon Valley — backed by a match-high .458 attack percentage — handed Tobias' club a 17-25 loss in the opener.
An early 4-1 Falcons' lead held up in the second stanza, however, as Messiah built a 12-9 advantage following a pair of solid serves from sophomore Cassy Diamond. Lebanon Valley was able to grab a brief 13-12 lead at the midway point, but five straight points helped the Falcons to a 17-13 advantage late — a run keyed by strong service from sophomore Brynn Lettieri.
LVC closed to within a point on three different occasions down the stretch, but a Lettieri kill was followed by a Dutchmen attack error, turning a 23-22 Messiah lead into the 25-22 final.
"Lebanon Valley had a lot of errors and we did well on attacks in the second set,” Tobias said. “Blocking was also a huge factor in the second set.”
Ultimately, a pair of timely LVC runs would change the overall complexion of the evening, as an 8-4 push turned a 7-5 score into a 15-9 difference in the third set while a 10-5 Dutchmen push closed the fourth.
It was simply too much for Messiah, as the Falcons dropped to sole possession of fourth place in the Commonwealth Conference standings with the defeat.
“They adjusted pretty well in the third set,” Tobias said. “We made too many errors. We're a good team. We just have to clean up what we start and be more aggressive. We did do what we wanted and that is to serve aggressively. However, there's tradeoff and 14 service errors in one match is just too many. It's so hard to hit that happy medium and we didn't do too well.”
Messiah finished hitting a collective .094 for the match, as freshman Lindsay King led the way with nine kills on 18 swings. With just one error, King turned in an impressive .444 hitting clip. Sophomore Emily Hall added five kills of her own, against just one error, for a percentage of .250.
Sophomore Megan Wise scooped 17 digs while freshman Lauren Rees had 12 and sophomore Brittany Salloum 10. Hall tallied a team-best four assist blocks while Lettieri had three to go with a pair of solo thwarts.
“Lebanon Valley doesn't make too many mistakes and they're incredible at keeping the ball off the floor,” Tobias said. “The set featured a lot of long rallies and great defense on both sides, but the bottom line is that errors hurt us the most. Nine aces and 14 service errors? That's way too unbalanced.”
Messiah will not have long to sulk over the league loss, as the team will host a Homecoming Weekend Tri-Match Friday afternoon. Messiah will face FDU-Florham at 3 p.m. and Penn State University-Altoona at 7 p.m. The two visitors will play one another at 5 p.m. All matches will take place in Hitchcock Arena.
"One of our goals was to win 20 matches and we have to win the rest of them to do that,” Tobias said of her team's upcoming schedule. “Now, we want to be second or third in our conference. I'm tired of being fourth. We'll use the rest of our non-conference matches to try and get better.”
