Box Score
With Tim Bonitz,
GoMessiah.com reporter
Grantham, PA- The Messiah College Falcons (19-7, 6-1) extended their winning streak to nine on Wednesday night as they defeated the Pride of Widener University (13-14, 4-3) 3-1 in a Commonwealth Conference showdown.
Messiah started out slow in the opening set but early blocking got the Falcons on track and forced Widener to call a timeout down 8-12 to Messiah. The Falcons came out of the timeout with a dose of tough serving that kept the Pride off-balance for a 25-12 Messiah victory.
Up 1-0, the Falcons pushed the tempo of the second set and got to an early 14-10 resulting in a Widener timeout. Widener would fight their way back into the match with solid defense and would eventually tie the set at 21 points. Messiah would overcome Widener's late surge and win the second set 25-22 off a missed serve by the Pride.
The Falcons looked to sweep the Pride, but Widener had other plans and capitalized on early unforced errors by the Falcons. Widener maintained control through the third set winning 25-19 with momentum entering into the fourth.
The fourth set went back and forth as Messiah tried to end the match and Widener looked to stay alive. The Pride earned some breathing room going up 16-12. However Coach Tobias called a timeout and the Falcons bounced back tying the score at 16 points.
Widener again separated themselves from Messiah going up 24-21 with their eyes on the fifth set. However, the Falcons had other plans and rallied to win the set 27-25 to win the match.
Messiah's junior setter Jess Geib quarterbacked the Falcons and dished out 33 assists. Seniors
Lauren Rees and
Lindsay King both recorded 9 kills as junior libero
Allison Hill tallied 24 digs in the win.
Widener's Angela DiMaria led all hitters with 10 kills.
The Falcons will try to improve their winning streak to 10 on Tuesday, Oct. 23 when they take on Hood College (6-16, 0-7).
