Box Score vs. Eastern University |
Box Score vs. DeSales University
Grantham, PA – Messiah College earned a thrilling, 3-2 victory over No. 19 Eastern University on Saturday, one of two wins at the annual MAC Crossover for volleyball.
The Falcons recovered from a 0-2 hole against the Eagles, working through the last point to take an 18-16 decision in the fifth and final set. Messiah had earned a 27-25 decision in the third set to start their hopes for a comeback. After riding their third-set momentum to a 25-17 win in the fourth set, Messiah went ahead 11-6 in set number five. Showing their grit, Eastern rallied to push the score to 16-16 before succumbing to the Falcons' determination.
MAC Crossover
Messiah College
Oct. 6, 2012 |
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Game 1 |
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Messiah 3, Eastern 2 |
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Widener 3, DeSales 2 |
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Game 2 |
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Messiah 3, DeSales 1 |
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Eastern 3, Widener 0 |
Messiah's 17th point came on a thunderous kill by senior
Lindsay King, with the final point resulting from an attacking error by the Eagles.
“I think we came out today with the thought in the back of our minds that (beating Eastern) was a long shot,” Tobias said, identifying the doubt that her team was fighting going into Saturday's first match. “After winning that third set, we realized that we could beat them. After the win, I think we realize we don't know what our limit really is.”
By the recollection of head coach
Judi Tobias, it was the Falcons' first-ever win over a nationally ranked opponent. Additionally—and only by the measure of irony—it was the second time this week that Messiah and Eastern have played to an upset of a ranked opponent; on Wednesday of this week Eastern's field hockey team upset Messiah's No. 7 squad by the score of 1-0.
In their second match of the day, Messiah's volleyball team defeated DeSales University 3-1. In that contest, the Falcons recovered from a second-set loss to complete the sweep of the Crossover event.
Afterwards, the team was still buzzing from their win over the Eagles.
“The message to our team was 'we just won two sets, momentum is on our side, so let's go hard',” Tobias said of the team huddle as Messiah and Eastern were tied 2-2 heading into the final set. “Both teams were shuffling their lineups to find the best fit, and I think it really shows tenacity on our part that we were able to make the most of a great opportunity.”
Messiah was led in the win over Eastern by junior setter Jess Geib's 47 assists. Geib added five kills on 21 attempts, with zero attack errors. Senior
Lauren Rees collected a match-high 18 kills, but struggled at times en route to 13 errors. Rees did collect 22 digs, second on the team to
Allison Hill's 27 digs.
Additionally, King led the Falcons with seven block assists. Altogether, Messiah collected 18 block assists in the win over Eastern.
“We've really been focused on our blocking,” Tobias said. “It's really starting to pan out for us and when you can get that many points on blocking alone, that's significant.”
“This was a really good day for us, especially mentally,” Rees said. “We've really working on the mental side of the game, and our motto recently has been 'come out strong, finish stronger.' It feels good to know that we finished stronger today.”
Eastern placed three players in double-digits kills, with Katrina Pish and Erin Hillman leading the way with 16 and 15 kills, respectively. Amy Guarino handed out 49 assists.
The loss for Eastern was just their fourth of the season, though it is their second in three matches after dropping a 3-2 decision to Stevenson University a week ago. Prior to that, the Eagles had won13 straight matches—all, incredibly, by a 3-0 score. On Saturday, the Eagles were also without kills leader Kearby Benak who was sidelined with an injury.
In the DeSales game, Geib collected 51 assists-- tying her
career-high from a year ago. The total gave her an impressive 98 assists on the day, while Rees collected another 18 kills. King (10) and
Megan Myers (12) also were in double-digits for kills in the win over DeSales.
With their two wins, Messiah improves to 14-7. After losing four straight matches earlier in September, the Falcons have won seven of their past eight contests.
“Going into the DeSales game, we talked about not having a let-down,” Geib said, reflecting on her team's approach to what would be a second win on the day. “We didn't want to have an attitude of settling for the win over Eastern. Both ourselves and DeSales were tired, but we worked hard to play to our level.”
Messiah will look to keep their hot streak alive next week Tuesday when they travel to Arcadia University for a Commonwealth match-up. Already 4-1 in the conference, the Falcons have just four conference contests remaining this season. Game time on Tuesday is set for 7:00 p.m.
