GRANTHAM, Pa. - After winning an exciting first match to start the day, the Messiah women's volleyball team fell to Susquehanna 3-0 (15-25, 24-26, 23-25) in their final match of the day. Braedyn Gallagher led the team with 11 kills and 10 digs, while Jennifer Rusling dished out 22 assists. While the Falcons put forth a fight their offense struggled to find a good rhythm and made 24 errors in the match. The split today leaves Messiah at 8-12 overall on the year and they are back on the court next Tuesday Oct. 10 at Widener University. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m.

Match One: Messiah 3, Marymount 2
The Messiah women's volleyball team won a thrilling five-set match 3-2 (25-23, 20-25, 25-17, 22-25, 15-13) over Marymount University in their first match of the day. Great play exhibited by both teams but the Falcons were able to come out on top behind a double-double by Braedyn Gallagher who had 15 kills and 20 digs. Mary Underman was a force in the middle finishing with 15 kills and nine blocks, while Jennifer Rusling dished out 48 assists. On defense Jessica Zellers had 19 digs and Heston Cowoski added 18.

The first match provided some excitement, as both teams were very competitive and wanted to win. Messiah was able to win the first match 25-23 by tallying more kills (14-13) and finished with a higher attack percentage than Marymount. Points were traded back-and-forth early but with the scored tied at 10; the Falcons tallied four-straight points to take a 14-10 lead. Mary Underman and Braedyn Gallagher had kills, while Heston Cowoski recorded two service aces.
 
With an 18-14 advantage, two kills in a row, one from Lanae Hunsberger and the other by Kate Preudhomme, extended the Falcon lead 20-14. Later Messiah held a comfortable advantage 24-19 but Marymount made a late-set run scoring four points to pull within one, but then an error by the Saints earned the Falcons the victory.
 
The second set played out very similar to the first and both teams played pretty clean and did not commit too many errors but it was Marymount who escaped with the 25-20 win. The Saints jumped to an early 11-3 lead but the Falcon answered with a couple kills and to cut the lead 11-7. Later with the score 19-13 in favor of the Saints, the Falcons made a nice run scoring four points to pull within two 19-17, but that's as close as they would get as Marymount was able to stay in the lead the remainder of set two.
 
The third set was the strongest for the Falcons as they won 25-17 by tallying double the kills (15-6) and finished with a strong .406 attack percentage. Trailing 5-4, Messiah made a strong five-point scoring run to take the lead 9-5. Braedyn Gallagher had two kills and a block assist with Mary Underman to aide the Falcons. The Saints, however, were quick to respond as they scored five unanswered points to regain the lead 10-9.
 
Later with the scored tied at 12 a service ace, kill from Underman, and kill by Jennifer Rusling put Messiah back on top. 15-12. Messiah was able to hold a comfortable two-point or more lead the rest of the set and the dagger came with them ahead 18-16, six-straight point helped them finish the set strong and earn the win.
 
Marymount needed a set four victory to keep the match going and although it was a close one they were able to utilize a late-set scoring run to pull off the 25-22 victory. Heading into the fifth and final set it was either team's game and although it wasn't a very cleanly played set, the Falcons were able to tough out the 15-13 victory to win the match. The Falcons jumped to an early 5-0 lead, which certainly helped shift the momentum in their favor. The Saints were constantly trying to play catch up and eventually managed to do so tying the match and taking the lead 11-10.
 
After falling behind 13-12, Messiah rallied to score the final three points including a tremendous block assist by Jennifer Rusling and Mary Underman to end the match on a thrilling note.