Grantham, PA - The Falcons grinded out a tough 3-1 (25-27, 25-21, 25-9, 25-21) victory over the Blazers of Hood College. Messiah improved to 9-0 overall and 2-0 in the MAC Commonwealth with the victory.

The Blazers stunned the Falcons in the first set and pulled off a 27-25 victory. The Falcons tallied more kills (18-13) and accumulated a better attack percentage (.289-.200), but the Blazers committed fewer errors than the Falcons (5-3).
 
Hood started with an early 8-2 lead where the Falcons totaled four of the Blazers points from three attack errors and a bad set. Messiah worked their way back into the set by scoring four unanswered points from two kills by Kristen Douglas, a kill from Jane Underman, and a service ace by Suzanne Harris.
 
With the score notched up at 16, the Blazers went on a four point scoring streak that witnessed the Falcons commit three bad sets. Messiah responded with five unanswered points with four kills from four different Falcons and an attack error by Hood.
 
Messiah led 25-24 late in the set when Hood scored the final three points with kills from Elena Young and Kari Betson to end the set.
 
The second set was another competitive set that had the Falcons grab a 25-21 victory. Messiah was ready to play early on and quickly captured a 15-8 lead. Hood showed resilience and battled back into the set with five unanswered points. Messiah led 24-21 when Ellen Musselman tallied the winning point off a kill.
 
The third set was much different from the previous two sets due to the Falcons dominating 25-9 victory. The Falcons compiled 12 kills and built up an impressive .458 attack percentage during the set. Kristen Douglas highlighted the dominating third set victory with five kills, the most kills tallied by a Falcon during the set.
 
Once again, the Blazers tested the Falcons in the fourth and final set, but Messiah took a 25-21 victory. Hood accumulated more kills than the Falcons during the set (13-11), but committed nine errors throughout the set. The fourth set proved to be a showdown with the score being tied ten times during the set.
 
With the score notched up at 20, Messiah crushed the Blazers chances by scoring found unanswered points and took a 24-21 lead. Alycia Park-Ferretti highlighted the scoring streak with three kills. Kristen Douglas added the final point of the match from a kill and claimed the victory for the Falcons.
 
Kristen Douglas tallied a season high 21 kills and Jane Underman accumulated a season high four service aces during the match. Taylor Hook added three blocks and Brooke Gallagher dished out 41 assists.
 
The Falcons will next play this Saturday when they take on Dickinson College and Haverford College in Haverford, Pennsylvania.