PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Messiah College women's volleyball team defeated Geneva College 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-21) to finish their tournament. Braedyn Gallagher led with 14 kill she and Kate Preudhomme had 12. Jennifer Rusling tallied 41 assists and Amanda Dahlman was strong on defense with 30 digs.

The Falcons are now 6-9 overall and back on the court next Saturday for a tri-match at Eastern University.

Match One: Messiah 1, Carnegie Mellon 3 
The Messiah College women's volleyball team was defeated by No. 13 Carnegie Mellon 3-1 (18-25, 15-25, 25-23, 11-25) in their first match of the weekend. Mary Underman led the team with 14 kills and Payton Manwarring had 10 in the match. Jennifer Rusling tallied 34 assists and 17 digs, while Amanda Dahlman finished with 15 digs. Offense was a struggle as they finished with just a .126 attack percentage and committed 23 errors.

The Falcons were outplayed in the first set, particularly on offense as they finished with just 10 kills and a .083 attack percentage. It was tied at three early but the Tartans then scored five points to take an 8-3 advantage, and not long after pulled ahead by 10 14-4.  The early deficit was difficult to recover from but Messiah put forth some fight when trailing 15-5 they utilized three kills by Mary Underman and some errors to cut the down the lead 15-9.
 
The Tartans kept a comfortable lead the remainder of the set and even though the Falcons made a late rally to pull within six 24-18, it wasn't enough as Carnegie Mellon won set one.
 
A slight improvement was made during the second set, however, Messiah still struggled to get into an offensive flow and committed eight errors. Carnegie Mellon jumped to an early lead and midway through Messiah was trailing by double digits 16-5 and unfortunately could not cut into the lead. The Tartans went on to win set two 25-15.
 
The third set saw the Falcons show some fight and grind out a close 25-23 win. There was a lot of back-and-forth scoring action with each team getting in their kills on offense. With Messiah trailing 12-11, they tallied three-straight points off a kill by Kate Preudhomme, a service ace from Jennifer Rusling, and block assist by Payton Manwaring and Braedyn Gallagher to take a 14-12 lead.
 
The Falcons kept that slight edge and an important moment came with the score 19-18, Preudhomme hammered down another kill, as did Hannah Berger, and then a block assist by Manwaring and Berger gave the Falcons a nice 22-18 cushion. Later Carnegie Mellon went on a little scoring run and ended up tying the game at 23, but Messiah scored the final two points off two errors en route to the win.
 
Unfortunately the momentum from set three did not stay in Messiah's favor and they once again struggled offensively and the Carnegie Mellon attack proved to be too much. After the Tartans jumped to an early 6-0 lead, the Falcons struggled to put together a response and fell in the fourth and final set 25-11.

Match Two: Messiah 3, The College of Wooster 1
The Messiah College women's volleyball team defeated The College of Wooster 3-1 (25-23, 15-25, 25-20, 25-18) in their nightcap match of the evening. Mary Underman was an offensive terror hammering down an impressive 21 kills and finished with a .500 attack percentage. Payton Manwaring added 11 and Jennifer Rusling dished out 47 assists. Defensivley Braedyn Gallagher had 16 digs, Heston Cowoski finished with 13, and Amanda Dahlman with 18. Messiah also tallied 18 total team blocks as solid defense and more consistent offense were factors in this win.

A different story than the first match the Falcon offense came alive as they finished with 55 kills and defensively were solid with 20 team blocks. Still, however, they did commit 33 errors but despite that were able to grind out the win.
 
With the score tied at four early, Messiah utilized a seven-point scoring run to take the lead 12-5. Mary Underman had three kills and Lanae Hunsberger provided two in the run. That proved to be a strong offensive moment for the Falcons as they kept a nice lead for most of the set but the Fighting Scots kept pressing. With the score 23-15 the Fighting Scots tallied eight-straight points to tie the game and put the pressure on the Falcons. However, they responded big with a kill by Payton Manwaring and a service ace by Amanda Dahlman to win set one 25-23.
 
The second set was competitive at the beginning but The College of Wooster pulled ahead midway through by seven 12-5.  Unfortunately that gap was difficult to cut down and at one point Messiah was trailing 20-9 and the Fighting Scots ended up winning set two 25-15.
 
After a difficult set two, the Falcons looked to change the momentum in their favor and did just that finishing with more kills (14-12), a higher attack percentage (.256), and committed just four errors en route to a se three win 25-20.
 
With Messiah down 7-5, two errors by The College of Wooster and kills from Mary Underman and Amanda Dahlman gave Messiah the lead 9-7. Later the Falcons tallied three points, Mary Underman again hammered down a kill, had a service ace, and Payton Manwaring tallied a kill to extend the lead 16-9.
 
The Falcons were ahead towards the end of the set 23-17 but the Fighting Scots answered with three-straight points before Braedyn Gallagher and Kate Preudhomme tallied kills to finish the set.
 
Messiah had The College of Wooster on the heels heading into the fourth set as they needed the win to keep the match going but the Falcons kept up the offense with 15 kills and had four blocks in the set.
 
Ahead 4-3, Messiah utilized a block assist by Braedyn Gallagher and Mary Undermna, an error by The College of Wooster, and a kill from Mary Underman to pull ahead 7-3. Later with the Falcons ahead 13-8, the Fighting Scots went on a five-point scoring run to tie the game.
 
The Falcons responded in a big way, however, tallying seven points to regain the lead 20-13. Payton Manwaring provided three kills and a block in the scoring run.  That moment was pivotal in the set and even though the Fighting Scots made a run of their own to cut the lead 23-18, Manwaring and Underman hammered down kills to earn Messiah the 25-18 win.

Match Three: Messiah 1, Case Western Reserve 3
The Messiah women''s volleyball team was defeated by Case Western Reserve 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-15, 25-23) in their first match of the day. Braedyn Gallagher led the team with 16 kills while Kate Preudhomme added 12. . Jennifer Rusling tallied 34 assists and 17 digs, while Amanda Dahlman finished with 15 digs. Jennifer Rusling dished out 39 assists and tallied 19 digs, and Amanda Dahlman had 15 digs in the match.

Looking at the statistics from this match both teams played well and in the end it came down to who would grind out the close wins. The first set was a close one 25-23 with Case Western Reserve winning but Messiah stayed with them the whole time and even when the Spartans had a lead the Falcons answered with points to either cut it down or tie the game.
 
Late in the set with the Falcons trailing 17-12 and it looked like the Spartans would run away, six-straight points gave the Falcons a 18-17 advantage with the help two kills by Kate Preudhomme and a block assist by Payton Manwaring and Braedyn Gallagher. The remainder of the set was very close and Messiah actually took the lead 23-22 at one point hoping to score the final two points but three kills in row by Case Western earned them the victory.
 
The second set again was a competitive one, much like the first, however, the Falcons won this one 25-23. They finished with 15 kills and a .345 attack percentage. Messiah jumped to an early 9-4 lead and stayed ahead but Case Western slowly starting chipping away and eventually tied the game at 18.  Not long after the Spartans took their first lead of the set 22-21 but the Falcons responded by scoring three points off a kill by Ellen Musselman, block assist by Musselman and Gallagher, and an error to regain the advantage 24-22. After Case Western tallied a point, a service error gave Messiah the win.
 
The third set played out differently than the first two with the Falcons struggling on offense and Case Western's attack proved to be too much as they went on to win 25-15. Looking to keep the match going Messiah found their momentum again in set number four and very similar to the first two it came down to the wire. With the score tied at 10 the Falcons tallied four points to pull ahead, Ellen Musselman and Hannah Berger each had kills, while Jennifer Rusling had a service ace in the run. It didn't take long for the Spartans to respond as they tied it up again and the remainder of the set provided a lot of back-and-forth scoring with many ties.
 
A tough moment came with the score tied at 21, Case Western scored two-straight points to take a crucial 23-21 lead and even though Messiah tallied points of their own that proved to be the deciding moment as the Falcons fell 25-23 and 3-1 in the match.