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XML Box Score 3 LANCASTER, Pa. – The Messiah women's volleyball team was defeated by Franklin & Marshall in their final match of the day 3-2 (25-18, 25-22, 27-25, 26-24, 15-8). The Falcons are now 1-2 on the year and will be back in action next Wednesday Sept. 6 when they open up MAC Commonwealth Conference play against Stevenson University. Match time is set for 7:00 p.m. in Owings Mills, Md.
Match One: Messiah 3, Lancaster Bible College 0
The Messiah women's volleyball team earned a 3-0 (26-24, 25-12, 25-8) sweep over Lancaster Bible College earlier this evening to open up the 2017 season.
Mary Underman led the team with 11 kills, while
Braedyn Gallagher added 10 in the win.
Jennifer Rusling dished out a team-high 28 assists and defensively first-year player
Amanda Dahlman had a big performance with 17 digs in the match.
Close First Set
The first set of the match proved to be the most competitive with the Falcons escaping with the 26-24 victory. A lot of back-and-forth action for the first 10 points but two errors by the Chargers and a kill from
Mary Underman gave Messiah a 9-6 advantage. Later with the score 18-16 in favor of the Falcons, the Chargers scored three-straight points to take their first lead of the game 19-18. Messiah was quick to respond with a kill by
Braedyn Gallagher to tie it up at 19.
Messiah found themselves trailing late 23-22 but a couple errors by Lancaster Bible pushed them ahead 24-23, and not long after with the scored knotted at 24, two more Charger errors would seal the set one win for the Falcons.
Set Two, Settled In
The second set of the match saw the Falcons settle in as they collected 11 kills and finished with a .250 attack percentage. After jumping to an early 3-1 lead, 12-straight points by Messiah increased the lead 15-1.
Braedyn Gallagher hammered down four kills in the scoring run to aide the Falcon attack. Later with a decisive lead 24-8 lead, the Chargers managed a short rally to score four points but then first-year hitter
Payton Manwaring finished the set with a kill giving the Falcons the 25-12 win.
Set Three, Domination
Offensively set three was the best for Messiah as they tallied 14 kills and had a .282 attack percentage. Three kills and an error by Lancaster Bible gave Messiah a quick 4-0 lead and they dominated the remainder of the set. Leading 5-2 the Falcons put together a nine-point scoring run where
Lanae Hunsberger had two kills and
Hannah Berger also provided a kill. Messiah stayed strong and holding a 18-7 advantage scored five-straight points off three kills and two attack errors by Lancaster Bible. After the Chargers tallied a point, two kills, one by
Hannah Berger and the other from Hunsberger earned the Falcons the 25-8 set win and sweep.
The Falcons finished with 37 kills, 52 digs, and tallied four services aces in the match, however, early season jitters were a factor in this outing as they committed 24 errors.
The Falcons are now 1-0 on the year and continue their opening weekend with a match against Elizabethtown College at 11:00 a.m. and one with Franklin & Marshall College at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.
Match Two: Messiah 0, Elizabethtown 3
The Messiah women's volleyball team fell to the Elizabethtown Blue Jays 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-21) in their first match of the day.
Mary Undermand had 14 kills in the match, while
Jennifer Rusling dished out 30 assists. Defensively,
Amanda Dahlman had 17 digs and
Jessica Zellers finished with 12.
Match Three: Messiah 2, Franklin & Marshall 3
It took all five sets to determine this match as Messiah was edge by Franklin & Marshall 3-2 after jumping to an early 2-0 set lead.
Mary Underman led the team with 16 kills, while
Kate Preudhomme finished with 14 and Braedyn Gallgher with 11 respectively.
Amanda Dahlman served up six service aces and had 23 digs.
Jennifer Rusling dished out 49 assists and had 18 digs on defense.
Falcons Start Hot
Set one provided a lot of back-and-forth scoring at the start and throughout most of the match. The Falcons were able to break away with the score tied at 11, they tallied four-straight points to take a 15-11 lead.
Lanae Hunsberger and
Kate Preudhomme each had kills in the scoring run. Messiah kept that margin the rest of the set and later with the score 22-18 tallied the remaining three points of the set by way of two kills and a service ace by Dalhman to take the win.
The second set was a competitive one again with both teams on the attack. The Falcons were trailing 5-2 early but scored four-straight points off a kill by Lanae Hunsbergr, service ace from
Amanda Dahlman, and two Diplomat errors to take a 6-5 lead. Later with the scored tied at eight; Messiah went on a three-point scoring run to lead 11-8.
With the score 17-13 in favor of Messiah, Franklin & Marshall tallied three points to pull within one, but the responded with a kill by
Mary Underman to push the lead 18-16. Although the Diplomats kept pressing, the Falcons were able to finish the set strong and with the score 23-22; two errors earned them the set two victory.
Diplomats Answer, Falcons Struggle
Messiah struggled in the third set as Franklin & Marshall jumped to an early lead and held it for most of the way. The biggest deficit found the Falcons trailing 10-3 but four-straight points cut the lead 10-7. Not long after with the score 13-11 in favor of the Diplomats, two kills by
Kate Preudhomme tied the score at 13. However, the Diplomats responded with four points of their own to regain control 17-13. The Falcons didn't give up though and later trailing 18-15, tied the game back up off two kills by
Mary Underman and a Diplomat error.
Later with Messiah ahead 24-23 and within one point of set victory, Franklin & Marshall scored a point by way of a Messiah error. Points were traded and then with it tied at 25, the Diplomats tallied the final two points to win 27-25.
The Falcons got off to a hot start in the fourth set looking to seal the match win. They took an early 5-0 lead by way of three Diplomat errors, an ace from
Jennifer Rusling, and a kill by
Braedyn Gallagher. Messiah held a comfortable lead for the beginning of the set, but midway through Franklin & Marshall were on the attack and were able to tie the game at 11. However, the Falcons responded and tallied three points in a row to regain the lead 14-11.
A competitively played set the rest of the way, it seemed as one team scored a point, the other would respond with a point. A pivotal moment occurred when tied at 20, the Diplomats took the lead 21-20 and while the Falcons kept pressing, they couldn't regain control and fell 26-24 in the fourth set.
The fifth and final set found Messiah struggle to get into a good offensive flow. Trailing 3-2 Messiah was able to tally three-straight points to take over 5-3, but the Franklin & Marshall answered with six points to take the lead 8-5. From then on the Falcons lost momentum and unable to find rhythm fell in by a score of 15-8.
The Falcons finished with 57 kills, 71 digs, but what hurt was the team committed 25 errors in the match. They will look to regroup heading into conference play next week.
