Arlington, VA – Arlington, VA – The Messiah women's volleyball team was beat by Marymount University 3-1 (17-25, 19-25, 25-10, 15-25) in their final regular season match. Jane Underman led the team with 14 kills and Kristen Douglas had 10 of her own. Emily Zellers recorded 15 digs and Jessica Zellers finished with 11. Brooke Gallagher dished out 26 assists.
 
The loss tonight drops the Falcons to 25-7 overall on the season and moving forward from the tough loss will be vital as they start MAC Commonwealth playoffs next week. Messiah earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament earlier this week and will host the Dutchmen of Lebanon Valley at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday in Brubaker Auditorium.
 
Match One: Messiah College 3, Christopher Newport 2 (22-25, 23-25, 25-13, 25-13, 15-11)
The Messiah women's volleyball team defeated Christopher Newport University (22-25, 23-25, 25-13, 25-13, 15-11) in five sets. They came back in thrilling fashion after dropping the first two sets and then won the last three. Jane Underman led with a team-high 19 kills, Mary Underman finished with 15 kills and a .750 attack percentage. Emily Zellers recorded 24 digs and Danielle Weaver added 14 of her own. Brooke Gallagher dished out an impressive 53 assists, a season-high for the setter.

Messiah finished with 15 kills, a .289 attack percentage, and committed four errors in the first set of play.
 
Trailing early 9-4 the Falcons scored two points of a Captain error and kill by Taylor Hook to cut the lead 9-6.
 
Later with the score 13-10 in favor of the Captains, they tallied two points giving them a five-point lead 15-10. The Falcons responded with a kill by Braedyn Gallagher and benefited from an error by Christopher Newport to pull within three 15-12.
 
Christopher Newport kept pressing Messiah and their best chance at making a run came late in the set with them trailing 22-18, a kill by Mary Underman, Captain error, and service ace by Jane Underman brought the Falcons within one 22-21. However, the Captains answered with two-straight points and eventually went on to win set one 25-22.
 
In the second set both teams played very evenly matched at the start as points were exchanged. Down early 6-4 a kill by Brooke Gallagher and Captain error tied the score at six.
 
Later with Messiah trailing 11-9 Christopher Newport tallied three-straight points to increase their lead 14-9. The Falcons responded with three unanswered points of their own off a kill by Mary Underman, Brooke Gallagher, and Captain error to pull within two 14-12.
 
Christopher Newport stayed in control but down two 17-15 Messiah tallied two kills from Taylor Hook and Jane Underman to tied it at 17. However the Falcons would not be able to break through and take the lead. Trailing 24-21 the Falcons scored two points but the Captains scored the final point off a Messiah error to win 25-23.
 
In the third set the Falcons tallied 14 kills, had a .371 attack percentage, and committed just one error.
 
Messiah jumped to an early lead in the third set 3-0 off kills by Jane Underman and Braedyn Gallagher, and an error by Christopher Newport. With the Falcons leading 8-5 they scored four-straight points to extend their lead 12-5. In that scoring run Kristen Douglas and Jane Underman each had kills.
 
The Falcons dominated the rest of the set and with the double-digit lead 22-12, a bad set by the Captains and Jane Underman kill brought Messiah one point away from set victory. Christopher Newport tallied a point but on the next play committed an error giving Messiah the set win 25-13.
 
The Falcons kept the momentum going into the fourth set winning 25-13 over the Captains. They tallied 16 kills, finished with a .485 attack percentage, and did not commit any errors.
 
With an early 6-4 lead in favor of Messiah, Christopher Newport tallied two points to tie the score at six. However, the Falcons responded with four unanswered points off two kills by Jane Underman, one from Kristen Douglas, and an error by the Captains.
 
Later with Messiah holding the 12-9 advantage Mary Underman, Kristen Douglas, and Emily Buckwalter all hammered down kills extending their lead 15-9.
 
A huge scoring run happened moments later when the Falcons scored six-straight points giving them the 20-10 double-digit advantage. Mary Underman, Braedyn Gallagher, and Kristen Douglas all had kills in the run.
 
Messiah finished the fourth set strong, holding Christopher Newport at bay they went on to win 25-13 forcing a set five.
 
In the fifth and final set the Falcons had 11 kills and a .222 attack percentage.
 
This set was very competitive and both teams were aggressive looking to win the match. With the score tied early at four Messiah went on a three-point scoring run to take the lead 7-4. Kristen Douglas hammered down two kills and Braedyn Gallagher added one.
 
With Messiah leading 8-6, Christopher Newport scored three-straight to take the lead 9-8. The Falcons responded scoring two points to regain the lead 10-9.
 
Later with the Falcons ahead 12-11 they closed out the fifth set with three-straight points off kills by Jane Underman, Mary Underman, and service ace by Emily Buckwalter to win the set 15-11 and match 3-2. Messiah finished with a team-high 68 kills and 92 digs and had seven team blocks.

Match Two: Messiah College 1, Marymount University 3 (17-25, 19-25, 25-10, 15-25)
In the first set of play the Falcons started off strong but struggled to get into a good offensive flow. With the score tied at seven the Saints tallied three-straight points to take the lead 10-7. Messiah scored a point but then Marymount went on a four-point scoring run increasing their lead to 14-8.
 
Later in the set with the Falcons trailing 21-15, a kill by Brooke Gallagher and Saint error pulled the Falcons within four 21-17, but the Saints went on to score the final four points of the first set to win 25-17.
 
In the second set Messiah played better and more steady but fell to Marymount 25-19.
 
Trailing 11-5 the Falcons tallied two-straight points off a kill by Jane Underman and a Saint error to cut the lead 11-7. The Saints responded with two points to hold the edge 13-7.
 
Later with Messiah trailing 15-11, Marymount scored four unanswered points to widen the gap 19-11; a kill by Kristen Douglas ended the scoring run. Finding themselves down 21-15, Messiah made a late set-scoring run to cut the lead. A kill by Braedyn Gallagher and service ace from Brooke Gallagher brought them within four 21-17.
 
However, the Saints did not let up and tallied three-straight points of their own to be one point away from set victory. Marymount committed two errors giving Messiah two points but a final kill from the Saints secured the set win 25-19.
 
In the third set Messiah's offense came alive and they finished with 15 kills, a .412 attack percentage, and only committed one error.
 
The Falcons jumped to an early 3-0 lead off a kill by Jane Underman and two errors by the Saints. Later with Messiah ahead 9-4, they scored three points in a row to extend the lead 12-4.
 
With the score 12-5 in favor of Messiah, they tallied four-straight points to lead double-digits 17-5. In that scoring run Jane Underman and Mary Underman each hammered down kills.
 
Messiah dominated the rest of the set and with the lead 23-10 two back-to-back kills from Kristen Douglas sealed the third set win 25-10.
 
In the fourth and final set the Falcons struggled offensively and went on to be defeated in the set 25-15.
 
Trailing early 8-2, Messiah scored two points off a kill by Kristen Douglas and an error by Marymount to cut the lead 8-4. Later with Messiah down 12-7, Marymount tallied four unanswered points to extend the gap 16-7.
 
Messiah just could not break through as Marymount kept pressing them and were on the attack. With the score 20-10 in Marymount's favor, Taylor Hook recorded kill to cut the lead to single digits but an error by the Falcons to put the score at 21-11.
 
Later with Messiah down 24-13, a kill by Jane Underman and error by Marymount cut the advantage 24-15 but moments later a final kill by the Saints gave them the set win 25-15 and match win 3-1.