Box Score
Annville, PA — Whatever the reason for Messiah's 0-3 (23-25, 9-25, 15-25) loss at Commonwealth Conference rival Lebanon Valley College Wednesday night, Falcons' head coach Judi Tobias was adamant that it had nothing to do with the team's preceding week-long layoff.
“We had our best practice of the season (Tuesday) night,” Tobias said. “In all honesty, we were just awful tonight.”
The statistics reflected as much, as Messiah (14-6, 3-2) notched just 28 total kills — the squad's second-lowest amount of the season — while hitting at a .096 clip, numbers that produced the team's lowest point total of the year in a dismal second set. The Falcons' nine points in that stanza were the lowest since the team suffered a 25-5 second-set loss to Salisbury University last season.
“Lebanon Valley is a very good team that requires one's best effort,” Tobias said. “If you don't play well against them, they will take advantage, and they certainly did that to us tonight.”
Incredibly, Tobias' club was in the match at the start, rattling off half of its 28 kills in the first set and providing a great opportunity to claim the stanza. After Lebanon Valley (16-7, 5-0) got up by a 22-18 score, Messiah scored five of the set's next six points, led by two kills from sophomore Lauren Rees and singular blasts from classmates Ann Reck and Lindsay King.
When Rees sent a laser down the line, the initial set was tied 23-23.
Sadly, that would be the Falcons' last chance to make an impression on the match's outcome.
An ensuing Messiah service error and a kill by the Dutchmen's Emily Hopkins ended the visitor's hopes in a 25-23 downer, though no one could have predicted what would come next: After hitting at a .220 percentage in the opening stanza, Messiah responded with a -.054 effort in the second, as LVC dealt the aforementioned 25-9 haymaker.
“We were just flat,” Tobias said. “We were slow to the ball. It was the worst we played this year.”
Lebanon Valley's explosion came in the middle of the stanza, as a Rees kill tied things up at 4-4. The Dutchmen then rattled off 14 of the game's next 16 points, taking an 18-6 lead and never looking back.
A similar trend occurred in the third and final set, where a service ace from Rees gave the Falcons an early, 10-8 advantage. Lebanon Valley reeled off six straight points to claim a 14-11 lead, however, keeping the Falcons at bay for the final, 25-15 decision.
Rees paced Messiah's offense with seven kills, while King notched six markers. Freshman Jordyn Scheib recorded five kills.
Rees and junior Brittany Salloum each came up with 13 digs to lead the back-row defense. Freshman Jessica Geib finished with 22 of the team's 26 assists.
With the win, Lebanon Valley secured a berth in the upcoming Commonwealth Conference Tournament. Messiah, meanwhile, was left to look well ahead: After a week-long layoff preceding Wednesday's match, the Falcons are idle again for nearly that length of time, next facing off against Widener University next Tuesday.
“We felt good about our week of practice before tonight, and we'll try to go about business in the same manner this (upcoming) week,” Tobias said. “We can learn a lot from tonight. There is still a lot of volleyball left to be played.”
The Falcons will host the Pride in a crucial league match Tuesday at Brubaker Auditorium. Match time is set for 7 p.m.
