Grantham, PA – The Messiah women's volleyball team defeated Albright College (25-13, 25-6, 25-22) this evening on senior night. Jane Underman led the team with 13 kills and a .706 attack percentage. Mary Underman added nine kills and finished with a remarkable .800 attack percentage. Emily Zellers recorded 16 digs and Brooke Gallagher dished out 35 assists and had six service aces in the win. The Falcons improve to 23-6 overall and 6-1 in the conference with the victory tonight.
 
The Falcons played strong in the first set tallying more kills (16-6), had a higher attack percentage (.433-.000), and committed less errors (3-6) than the Lions.
 
A kill from Jane Underman, service ace by Brooke Gallagher, and an error by Albright to take an early lead 3-0. The Lions answered with two straight points but another kill by Messiah kept them ahead 4-2.
 
With Messiah leading 10-7, they scored seven-straight points giving them a double- digit advantage 17-7. Jane Underman hammered down three kills and Mary Underman had one in that scoring run.
 
The Falcons kept up the aggressive attack and with the score 20-11 they tallied four unanswered points off kills by Emily Buckwalter, Braedyn Gallagher, and two Lion errors to pull within one point of set victory 24-11. Albright scored two points but a setting error earned Messiah the set one win 25-13.
 
Messiah remained in control in the second set going on to win 25-6. They finished with 10 kills, a .364 attack percentage, and committed just two errors in the second set of play.
 
The Falcons came out aggressive early in the second set jumping to a 10-0 lead. Brooke Gallagher served 10 in a row, recording four aces, while Mary Underman and Jane Underman each had two kills in the run.
 
Albright tallied a kill but Messiah didn't take long to go on another scoring run, this time recording six-straight points off three service aces by Emily Buckwalter, a kill from Alycia Park-Ferretti, and two Albright errors to lead 16-1.
 
Later with the score 18-4 in favor of the Falcons, Braedyn Gallagher smashed down two consecutive kills, recorded a block assist with Taylor Hook, and the Lions committed an error to increase their lead 22-4.
 
With the score 23-6 Jane Underman and Braedyn Gallagher each tallied kills to help give Messiah the set two victory.
 
The third and final set proved to be the most competitive of the match with Messiah winning by a small margin of 25-22. They tallied more kills (19-12), had a higher attack percentage (.405-.333), but did commit more errors (4-2) in the third set.
 
Messiah jumped to an early 4-0 lead off two kills by Mary Underman, one from Alycia Park-Ferretti, and an Albright error. Later with the Falcons holding the slight edge 6-4, they scored two-straight points off a kill by Kristen Douglas and Lion error to extend the gap 8-4.
 
With the score 10-6 in Messiah's favor, two kills from Jane Underman, one from Mary Underman, a service ace from Jenny Baumer, and setting error by Albright gave them the comfortable 15-6 advantage.
 
What appeared to be a run-away for the Falcons, ahead 18-10, the Lions scored five unanswered points off four Messiah errors and tallied a kill to cut the lead 18-15. Messiah responded with a kill by Kristen Douglas but moments later Albright tallied five-straight points gaining their first lead of the set 20-19.
 
The Falcons didn't falter and answered back with three-straight kills from Braedyn Gallagher, Taylor Hook, and Kristen Douglas to re-claim the advantage 22-20. Not long after with the score 23-22 a kill by Jane Underman and service ace from Taylor Hook helped Messiah to set and match victory.
 
Messiah finished with 45 team kills and a .404 match attack percentage. They recorded 11 service aces and played solid defensively with 45 digs. They return to action this Thursday for another MAC Commonwealth game against Lebanon Valley College at 7:00 p.m. in Annville, Pa.