Grantham, PA - Despite earning a hard-fought and thrilling 28-26 win in set one, Messiah College could not keep momentum and dropped three-straight sets to Stevenson University in a 3-1 loss in the MAC Commonwealth opener. The decision dropped Messiah to 4-1 on the season while Stevenson improved to 4-2.
 
The Falcons were down 12-10 in the first set before they went on a loud 8-2 run to grab control. A kill by Mary Underman put Messiah up 20-16, but a collection of service and attacking errors allowed Stevenson to crawl back, and soon the score was tied at 22-22. Brooke Gallagher collected a kill for a 25-24 Messiah lead, but the teams then traded points to make it 26-26.
 
Gallagher collected another kill to give the Falcons a 27-26 lead, and an attacking error by Stevenson's Annika Schwartz sealed the set win.
 
The early energy carried over into the second set as Messiah took a quick 7-4 lead. But Stevenson fought back to go up 8-7, and neither team had more than a one-point lead until Stevenson scored three-straight points to go up 17-14. The Falcons responded to the challenge, and moments later a service ace by Emily Zellers and an attacking error by Schwartz brought the Falcons within 21-20.
 
Undeterred by the Falcons' rally, Stevenson never gave up the lead and went on to win 25-23.
 
In the crucial third set the teams again traded early blows, but once again it was Stevenson who built a lead midway through. Two kills and two service aces contributed to a five-point run that put them up 13-8, and soon Messiah found themselves down 20-13 en route to a 25-15 loss.
 
In the fourth set Messiah fell behind again, this time 7-3.  They got back to within 8-6 on a kill by Mary Underman, but that would be the closest they would get in an eventual 25-18 loss.
 
Moriah Savage led the Mustangs with 11 kills, and Lauren Weaver joined her double-figures with 10 kills. Sara Bollinger dished out 26 assists to lead the attack.
 
Jane Underman was the lone Falcon with double-digit kills (10) and Brooke Gallagher led the way with 30 assists. In total Messiah gathered just a .097 attack percentage, and they made 26 errors.
 
The Falcons will look to get back in the win column this Saturday when they host both Moravian and Gettysburg for a tri-match. The day will start at 11:00 a.m. with the Falcons and Bullets.