WILLAMSPORT, Pa. - The Messiah women's volleyball earned a 3-0 (25-19, 25-17, 25-22) sweep over Lycoming College this evening. Mary Underman led the team with 11 kills, Alycia Park-Ferretti had nine, and Payton Manwaring added eight as well as six blocks on defense. Jennifer Rusling dished out 33 assists and Amanda Dahlman had 12 digs. Overall as a team the Falcons front line played solid finishing with 13 team blocks.

Clean Sweep
Messiah put on the offensive pressure early in the match finishing with 14 kills and a .321 attack percentage in set one. Leading 3-2, a kill from Alycia Park-Ferretti, Braedyn Gallagher, and an error by Lycoming extended Messiah's lead 6-2.  However, the Warriors were quick to respond scoring four points in a row to take a 7-6 advantage. The Falcons answered by tallying three-straight points off a kill by Mary Underman, an error, and service ace from Braedyn Gallagher to regain control 9-7.
 
Later in the set with the Falcons in the lead 14-11, a four-point scoring run gave them a comfortable edge 18-11 which included two blocks from Payton Manwaring, who provided a strong presence in the middle. Messiah kept the lead the remainder of the set and went on to win 25-19.
 
Messiah kept the momentum going in the second set of play and tallied 12 kills, finished with an impressive .440 attack percentage, and committed just one error. With the score tied early at seven, the Falcons utilized a couple Warrior errors, two kills from Mary Underman, and an ace by Jennifer Rusling to take the lead 14-7. Messiah stayed comfortable and in control, leading by as much as 11 at one point and Lycoming did not have much of a response. They put on an attack late cutting the deficit 23-17, but it wasn't enough as Messiah tallied the final two points to win set two 25-17.
 
The Falcons faltered a little in the third set committing nine errors and finishing with just a .91 attack percentage but they were able to grind out the win 25-22.  They got off to a strong start pulling ahead 7-2 early with the help of solid defense in the middle. Mary Underman and Alycia Park-Ferretti provided two blocks assists to aid the Falcons.
 
Later leading by 14-10 the Warriors tallied six-straight points to take the lead 16-14 but the Falcons answered with a kill by Lanae Hunsberger but Lycoming tallied one of their own to stay ahead. Three-straight points by Messiah gave them an 18-17 edge but then Lycoming tied the game up once again. The rest of this set was a battle and a pivotal moment came with the score tied at 21, Mary Underman hammered down a kill and then the Warriors committed an error so the Falcons regained the lead 23-21. Lycoming did tally the next point but the final two points of the match belonged to Messiah leading to the clean sweep.

The win improves Messiah to 4-7 on the year and 2-1 in the MAC Commonwealth. They are back in action this weekend for a tournament at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pa. with matches on Friday and Saturday. Check out GoMessiah.com for more information.