Grantham, PA - The Falcons of Messiah College stunned the No. 13 Eagles of Eastern University by earning a 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-23) sweep in their first match of a tri-match Saturday morning. After earning the victory over nationally ranked Eastern, the Falcons improved to 27-2 overall and 9-0 at home.

Messiah then swept Lynchburg College 3-0 (25-10, 25-12, 25-13) to move to 28-2 overall and 10-0 at home.

Match One: No. 13 Eastern University Eagles 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-23)
The first set of the match had the Falcons take their widest margin of victory over Easter by defeating the Eagles 25-21. Messiah edged Eastern in kills (15-10), attack percentage (.308-.130), and committed fewer errors (3-4).
 
Both teams battled to a 13-13 tie. With the score tied at 13, the Falcons went on the attack and rallied for five unanswered points to take a 18-13 lead. The scoring streak was formed by a kill from Taylor Hook, a kill by Jane Underman, a service ace from Kristen Douglas, and two errors committed by the Eagles.
 
Eastern immediately responded with four unanswered points and narrowed the Falcons lead to 18-17. Messiah quickly answered with a six point scoring streak and pulled ahead of Eastern 24-18. The scoring streak was created by a kill from Jane Underman, a kill by Alyssa Vorbeck, a service ace from Taylor Hook, and three errors committed by the Eagles.
 
Eastern made the set interesting by stringing together four unanswered points to make the score 24-21 in the Falcons favor, but Messiah ended the set with a kill from Brooke Gallagher.
 
The second set witnessed the Falcons squeeze by the Eagles with a 25-23 victory. Eastern edged the Falcons in kills (15-14), attack percentage (.250-.182), and committed fewer errors (4-6), but the Falcons found a way to find the victory.
 
Messiah played well early on in the set and had a 14-10 advantage over Eastern. The Eagles swiftly regained the lead by putting together a six point scoring streak and led 16-14.
 
The Falcons kept their composure and slowly tied the set at 22 a piece. With the score tied, Messiah tallied a pair of points with kills from Hannah Baumer and Brooke Gallagher to take a 24-22 lead.
 
Eastern responded with a kill by Kaitlyn Gochenaur to pull within one, but Messiah ended any chances of a comeback with a powerful kill from Kristen Douglas.
 
The third and final set of the match had the Falcons edge the Eagles 25-23. Eastern topped Messiah in kills (13-12), accumulated the same attack percentage as Messiah (.150-.150), but committed more errors than Messiah (7-6).
 
Eastern came ready to play early in the third set and grabbed a 15-9 lead over Messiah. Trailing 15-9, the Falcons climbed back into the set with a four point scoring streak to narrow the Eagles lead to 15-13.
 
The scoring streak was created by kills from Alyssa Vorbeck, Kristen Douglas, and Hannah Baumer. In addition, the Eagles committed an attack error during the four point scoring streak.
 
Each team exchanged scores and Eastern held a 23-21 advantage over Messiah. With the match victory within distance, the Falcons exploded offensively and tallied four clutch points to end the match.
 
The four unanswered points were formed by two kills from Kristen Douglas and two errors committed by Eastern.
 
Kristen Douglas led the Falcons offensively with 11 kills and Brooke Gallagher dished out 34 assists. Defensively, Messiah received excellent performances from Emily Zellers (16 digs) and Alyssa Vorbeck (two blocks).

Match Two: Lynchburg College Hornets 3-0 (25-10, 25-12, 25-13)
Messiah dominated the Hornets of Lynchburg throughout the match by winning every set by at least 12 points. The Falcons conquered the Hornets in kills (13-3), accumulated a .400 attack percentage compared to Lynchburg's -.031, and committed fewer errors (1-4).
 
The Falcons used a plethora of scoring streaks to pull away from the Hornets that included scoring streaks of six, five, four, and three points. Messiah led 14-6 when they strung together a six point scoring streak to take a large 20-6 lead. The streak was formed by a kill from Jane Underman, a kill by Alyssa Vorbeck, a service ace from Brooke Gallagher, and three errors committed by the Hornets.
 
Messiah held their comfortable lead and tallied the final point of the set from an attack error committed by Lynchburg.
 
The second set was similar to the first with Messiah coming away with a commanding 25-12 victory. The Falcons dominated kills (13-3), attack percentage (.500-.000), and committed fewer errors (0-7).
 
Messiah used five scoring streaks that consisted of three points and added a four point scoring streak to capture the second set victory.
 
Messiah led Lynchburg 17-10 when they tallied four unanswered points and extended their lead to 21-10. The streak was created by a kill from Brooke Gallagher, a kill from Kristen Douglas, and two errors committed by Lynchburg.
 
The Falcons led 24-12 and gathered their final point of the set off a service error committed by the Hornets.
 
Once again, Messiah won the third set in dominant fashion by a 25-13 score. The Falcons topped the Hornets in kills (16-6), accumulated a .367 attack percentage compared to Lynchburg's -.034, and committed fewer errors (5-7).
 
The Falcons used scoring streaks of eight and a pair of three point scoring streaks to take the third set victory.
 
Messiah led 14-9 when they exploded offensively for eight unanswered points and took a 22-9 lead. The scoring streak was formed by two kills from Kristen Douglas, a kill by Alyssa Vorbeck, a kill from Braedyn Gallagher, a service ace by Jane Underman, and three attack errors committed by Lynchburg.
 
The Falcons led 23-13 when they scored back-to-back points from a kill by Kristen Douglas and an attack error committed by the Hornets for the set and match victory.
 
Kristen Douglas led the Falcons offensively with 15 kills and Brooke Gallagher dished out 34 assists. Defensively, Messiah received stellar performances from Kristen Douglas (12 digs) and Alyssa Vorbeck (three blocks).