Grantham, PA - The Falcons of Messiah College overpowered the Crusaders of Alvernia University in a 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 25-15) sweep Tuesday evening in Brubaker Auditorium. Messiah improved to 12-1 overall and 3-1 in the MAC Commonwealth with the victory.

Messiah started their sweep of Alvernia with a 25-18 first set victory. The Falcons tallied more kills (9-8), committed fewer errors (4-5), and accumulated a slightly better attack percentage (.139-.111) than the Crusaders during the first set of play.
 
The score was 9-8 in the Falcons favor when Messiah separated themselves from the Crusaders with a five point scoring streak, their largest of the set. The scoring streak was created by two kills from Jane Underman, a kill from Ellen Musselman, a service ace by Brooke Gallagher, and a bad set committed by Alvernia.
 
Messiah led 22-18 and scored three unanswered points to capture the victory. The final three points were scored from three attack errors by the Crusaders.
 
The Falcons rode their momentum into the second set and defeated Alvernia 25-19. Messiah accumulated more kills (15-8) and a better attack percentage (.275-.172), but committed one more error (4-3) than the Crusaders.
 
Alvernia jumped on Messiah early and quickly grabbed a 5-1 lead. The Falcons battled back and led 15-14 when they strung together four unanswered points highlighted by two kills from Jane Underman and a kill by Kristen Douglas.
 
The Falcons held their lead and tallied back to back points off bad sets by the Crusaders to earn the second set victory.
 
The third set of the evening was the most lopsided with the Falcons dominating the Crusaders 25-15. Messiah tallied 15 kills compared to Alvernia's six and accumulated an impressive .406 attack percentage compared to Alvernia's .038.
 
Messiah led 9-7 when they exploded offensively with seven unanswered points and grabbed a 16-7 lead. Jane Underman tallied three kills, Kristen Douglas tallied one kill, Braedyn Gallagher added another kill, and Brooke Gallagher perfected a service ace during the seven point scoring streak.
 
The Falcons stayed aggressive and scored the final two points of the match off a powerful kill by Jane Underman and an attack error by the Crusaders.
 
Jane Underman led the Falcons offensively with 19 kills and five service aces. Defensively, the Falcons were led by Kristen Douglas who collected 12 digs and Ellen Mussleman who gathered four blocks.
 
Messiah will be back in action this Thursday when they travel to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania to take on the Greyhounds of Moravian College at 7:00 p.m.