Frederick, MD – The Messiah women's volleyball team swept Hood College on the road tonight 3-0 (25-13, 25-10, 25-14).  Kristen Douglas led the team with 13 kills while Jane Underman added 10 of her own. Jennifer Rusling finished with 24 assists while Brooke Gallagher had 19 assists. Emily Zellers recorded 13 digs in the win. The Falcons improve to 3-1 in the conference and 17-3 on the season with the win tonight.
 
Messiah came out strong in the first set of play finishing with more kills (16-6), a .464 attack percentage, and committed less errors (3-6) than Hood.
 
The Falcons were down early 5-3 but responded with eight-straight points to take the lead 11-5. In that scoring run Hannah Baumer hammered down four kills, Kristen Douglas had two kills, and Emily Zellers recorded a service ace.
 
It didn't take long for Messiah to again put together a scoring run, leading 11-6 they scored four unanswered points off two kills by Taylor Hook, a service ace, and two Hood errors to extend the lead 15-6.
 
Later, holding a comfortable 17-8 advantage a kill by Jane Underman, one from Taylor Hook, and a service ace from Danielle Weaver gave Messiah a double-digit lead 20-8. From there on out it was all Falcons and with the score 23-13 two final kills, one from Mary Underman and one from Douglas gave Messiah the set one win 25-13.
 
Messiah kept up their momentum into set two and dominated winning 25-10. They had 17 kills, a .536 attack percentage, and only committed two errors in set two.
 
The Falcons jumped to an early 8-1 lead. In that eight-point scoring run Douglas and Hannah Baumer each had two kills while Emily Buckwalter recorded a service ace.
 
The Blazers tallied points and cut Messiah's lead to 8-6 but the Falcons responded with six unanswered points off kills by Douglas, Jane Underman, and Taylor Hook, two service aces by Danielle Weaver, and a Hood error to lead 14-6.
 
Leading 15-7, Messiah utilized another five-point scoring run late in the set to stay in control. Jane Underman had two kills and Taylor Hook served up three consecutive service aces to help the Falcons extend their lead 19-7. 
 
With the score 24-9, Hood tallied a point but a final kill from Kristen Douglas earned Messiah the set two victory.
 
The third set was similar to the first two with Messiah dominating once again. They recorded 16 kills, had a .424 attack percentage, and again only committed two errors in the final set of play.
 
Two kills from Mary Underman, a service ace by Jennifer Rusling, and Hood error gave Messiah an early 4-0 lead. Later with the Falcons leading 5-3 they tallied five-straight points off two kills each from Kristen Douglas and Braedyn Gallagher, and a service ace by Emily Zellers increasing their lead to 10-3.
 
Later in the set Messiah was leading 12-7 and scored four-straight points off two kills from Jane Underman, a Hood error, and service ace from Alexis Shughart to give them a double-digit lead 16-7.
 
With the score 22-14 in favor of the Falcons they went on to tally the final three points of the set off a Hood error, service ace from Suzanne Harris, and a kill from Taylor Hook to give them the third set win 25-14.
 
Messiah finished with 49 team kills, 50 digs, 13 service aces, and a team-high .472 match attack percentage.
 
The Falcons will be back in action this Saturday when they travel to Susquehanna University for a tri-match. They play SUNY Canton at 2:00 p.m. and finish with a 4:00 p.m. match against Susquehanna.