Box Score
Grantham, PA — Fifteenth-year Messiah head coach Judi Tobias entered Wednesday's Commonwealth Conference opening tilt with Albright College having never lost a match to the Lions during her tenure.
So her look of extreme disappointment following the Falcons' first-set defeat in Brubaker Auditorium could be expected.
Thankfully, Messiah righted the ship following an opening, 18-25 loss to Albright, eventually cruising to a 3-1 (18-25, 25-17, 25-16, 25-11) win — the team's eighth straight on the year.
Following a paltry .031 attack percentage in Wednesday's opening stanza, Messiah (8-2, 1-0) responded to hit with greater efficiency in the remainder of play, highlighted by a .308 clip in the third to keep things from getting remotely interesting.
“I was just really glad that we rebounded the way we did,” Tobias said. “Albright did not come in here to lose. They came out and played to win, and we didn't really have a grip of that.”
After Albright (1-8, 0-1) and Messiah traded points to open the first set, it was the visiting Lions that shifted into another gear, turning a 4-4 game into an 14-9 lead — eventually generating a match-high 10 kills to run away with things. Tobias' club pulled within a 14-11 score following a Lions' attack error, but Albright claimed six of the set's next seven points, opening a 20-12 spread.
Two Messiah timeouts could not stop the bleeding, as a kill from the Lions' Alexa Jones finished the upset.
“Lauren Rees said it during both of our timeouts,” Tobias said. “She kept saying, 'We're flat. We've got to pick it up.' I agreed with her, but I told the team that I couldn't change that. Thankfully, they did. They picked up their play in the second set, and that was a very good thing.”
Albright hung around early in the second, pulling to a 7-7 draw following a Falcons' attacking error, but Tobias' club eventually would pull away. Back-to-back kills from Rees and junior Emily Hall helped Messiah to a 16-10 lead, and when junior Lauren Lathrop recorded an ace on the Falcons' next serve, the hosts had their largest lead of the night.
The third set was a virtual duplication of the second, as Messiah slowly asserted its will on Albright, charting a match-high 13 kills on the aforementioned .308 team attacking percentage. A kill from Rees kept a 16-13 score from getting any closer, while an assist block from Rees and freshman Jordyn Scheib on the ensuing play made it an 18-13 spread.
Messiah finished off the third frame by scoring the last three points, coming via a pair of kills from sophomore Ann Reck and a dump kill from freshman setter Jessica Geib, who finished with 33 assists on the night.
“I was pleased with how we played the rest of the way (after the first set),” Tobias said. “I think we were able to wear Albright down a bit as the match went on, and our play really improved.”
That was never more evident than at the beginning of the fourth and final set, where Geib served the match's first nine points — giving Messiah an 8-1 lead. Another service ace from Lathrop pushed the Falcons to a 13-1 advantage, and the final result would be arithmetic: Only a Messiah attacking error and one of three Albright kills would push the Lions into double-figures, as the Falcons rolled to the 25-11 haymaker.
Rees paced Messiah's offense with 14 kills on an incredible .500 attacking percentage, season highs in both categories. Hall tallied eight kills, while Scheib finished with six. Rees also came up with eight digs and two block assists, while Scheib finished with three block assists.
In addition to running the offense, Geib finished with a team-leading 13 digs. Lathrop paced 14 Falcons' aces, serving up five.
“You have to give Albright credit,” Tobias said. “They served us very tough early, and our serve receive ratings were not very good. They blocked us like crazy early on, and we were forced to change our game plan a bit. But, after that first set, we were able to run our offense more effectively, and we played more like we are capable.”
Messiah will next take its eight-match winning streak back out of conference play, as the squad will travel to neighboring rival Elizabethtown College to take part in the Old Friends Crossover Friday evening. The Falcons will open against Moravian College at 6:30 p.m., and will follow with a match against Lancaster Bible College at 8:30 p.m.
All matches are set to take place in Elizabethtown's Thompson Gymnasium.
