Box Scores: Messiah v. St. Mary's - Messiah v. Lancaster Bible - Messiah v. Frostburg
St. Mary's City, MD — A weekend trip to St. Mary's City, Maryland may have added two more losses to Messiah's record, but it wasn't all bad as the Falcons captured a win as well — the team's final preparations before a crucial regular-season ending week of Commonwealth Conference play upcoming.
Messiah (15-8) dropped a 3-1 (25-21, 27-29, 21-25, 33-35) heartbreaker to the host Seahawks Friday night before coming back to handle Lancaster Bible College 3-1 (25-14, 24-26, 29-27, 25-16) Saturday morning, concluding the trip with a 3-0 (25-27, 20-25, 15-25) loss to Frostburg State University.
“This was a good weekend of competition for us,” said Judi Tobias, Messiah head coach. “St. Mary's and Frostburg State were very similar in style of play to us, and we had to face Lancaster Bible for the second time this year, which is always tough. We were disappointed not to get a win against St. Mary's and Frostburg State, but we did some good things that we'd like to carry over (into the post-season).”
Tobias' club got tangled in a whale of a match against St. Mary's (18-6) Friday night, hitting at a match-high .364 clip in the first set before narrowly falling in each of the following three stanzas. With the match on the line in the fourth, the Falcons and Seahawks went to an incredible 35-33 count, far and away the highest point total in any set this season, and Messiah's most since collegiate volleyball transferred to the 25-point set back in 2008.
“We were out of timeouts, out of subs, out of everything,” Tobias said of the marathon finish. “We had players playing in spots that they never do, and St. Mary's was able to scratch out two points to get it done.”
Sophomores Ann Reck, Lauren Rees and Lindsay King all finished with 14 kills to lead the Falcons' cause, while junior Emily Hall had nine attacks for points. Junior Megan Wise finished with 28 digs in her libero position, while Rees scooped 15 and junior Brittany Salloum 11.
Sadly, the final set concluded when Hall couldn't handle a Seahawks serve — Hall's first appearance in the back row this season.
“When you're out of substitutions, you can get caught in some pretty odd rotations,” Tobias said.
Irregular subs were not an issue Saturday morning against Lancaster Bible (13-9), as Reck's 12 kills paced Messiah to the 3-1 victory. Hall notched 10 kills and King swatted 10 kills to go with 10 block assists, as the Falcons took apart the Chargers by committee.
The Falcons equaled their weekend-high 83 digs against Lancaster Bible, giving up one more set than in the teams' first meeting back on Sept. 17. Freshman Allison Hill stepped in for Wise at the libero position, leading Messiah with 28 digs.
Finishing play against Frostburg State (27-3), the Falcons simply found the pace too frenetic. A spirited, 27-25 loss was met with scores of 20 and 15 in the second and third stanzas, respectively, and Messiah had dropped just its eighth match in 23 opportunities.
“Did Frostburg start out slow or did we just play more confidently in that first set? It's a good question,” Tobias said. “Like we did against St. Mary's, we got in a rotation that was tough. Frostburg had some outside hitters that were really talented, and we struggled blocking.”
Rees paced the team with nine kills on 34 swings, while Hall added seven and King five. Wise scooped 13 digs.
And while a pair of defeats may not have been the best result for the squad, it paled in comparison to what lies ahead: Should Messiah win at league rival Lycoming College and Elizabethtown College lose to Lebanon Valley College Wednesday night, the Falcons would be the number two seed in the Commonwealth Conference Tournament, and would host Widener University — a team they beat 3-1 Oct. 19.
“We're trying not to get too caught up in the 'what ifs,'” Tobias said. “We just want to play as well as we're capable (Wednesday). Everything else will fall into place.”
The Falcons will travel to Lycoming for a 7 p.m. start Wednesday night. Elizabethtown hosts LVC at the same time.
