GRANTHAM, Pa. - Trailing Elizabethtown 23-18 in the opening set, the Messiah women's volleyball team snatched the momentum of the match with a 10-3 run to claim the game 28-26. After winning that set by a 28-26 final, Messiah claimed victories of 25-21 and 25-14 to claim an impressive 3-0 (28-26, 25-21, 25-14) sweep of the 21-8 Elizabethtown Blue Jays.
 
Mary Underman was phenomenal in the sweep, collecting 21 kills and a .419 hitting percentage on 44 swings.
 
Messiah moves to 19-6 overall with the victory and will be back in action next weekend when they travel to Wilkes University for a tri-match between Rutgers-Camden and Wilkes.
 
Electrifying First Set
Messiah got off to a slow start in game one, with the Blue Jays taking a 4-0 lead being assisted by some Falcon errors. Elizabethtown continued to control the first half of the set, taking a 10-6 lead. The Falcons then used kills from Payton Manwaring and Natalie Marsch to produce a 4-0 flurry and tie things up at 10-10. Elizabethtown then took control right back with a 5-1 run to take a 15-11 lead.

The Blue Jays continued to hold off Messiah throughout the set, extending their lead to 22-17, but the Falcons would not go down without a fight. Messiah stormed back into the set with an 8-2 run to halt the Blue Jays momentum and put Messiah in the driver's seat at 25-24. A pair of Manwaring kills along with a pair of Mary Underman kills fueled the stretch.

The two teams then duked it out during the rest of the game. A Shelly Yohe kill knotted the set back up at 25-25 before an Underman kill put Messiah back up 26-25. The Blue Jays fought back again to tie it up at 26-26 before Messiah shut the door thanks to an Underman kill and ace to win the set 28-26.

Evenly Matched
Underman tallied thrice to aid Messiah in jumping out to a 7-4 lead. Elizabethtown then worked back into the set with a 5-2 streak to link the set up at 9-9. The teams continued to battle and trade points, with Messiah holding a slim 18-16 advantage. After the Blue Jays cut it to one at 18-17, a Natalie Marsch killed along with an Amanda Dahlman ace led a 3-0 Falcon charge to give them some breathing room with a 21-17 lead. Messiah extended this lead to five after a Blue Jay error made it 24-19 and put Messiah at set point. Two consecutive Elizabethtown kills made it interesting, but Messiah used a Blue Jay mishap to take the set 25-21.

Falcons Control Final Set
After Messiah launched out to a 5-1 lead in the third set, Elizabethtown used two Bryanna Miller kills to bounce back with a 4-0 stretch to tie things at 5-5. Messiah grabbed a small 10-8 lead before extending that lead to 13-8 in the set after a 3-0 run with the assistance of kills from Manwaring and Marsch. The Falcons continued to control the set, extending their lead to 20-11. The Blue Jays helped the Falcons at the end of the set, committing four errors in the final five points during the Falcons eventual 25-14 game win to give them a 3-0 straight set victory.

There's Something About Mary
Mary Underman tied her career high for kills in a match tonight with 21. She is averaging 3.20 kills per set on the season and tonight she averaged an impressive seven per set. Underman recorded 21 kills two other times this season against Cabrini and Catholic, but those matches went to five sets. This came after the senior recorded her 1,000th career kill on Tuesday night against Alvernia. Of Messiah's 78 points on the night, 21 of them came on swings from Underman.

Underman has recorded 259 kills this season with six matches remaining in the regular season. She set her career high of 307 kills in 2017, a year that saw her named MAC Commonwealth Player of the Year and an All-American.

What's Up Next
The Falcons move to 19-6 on the season and are riding a three game winning-streak going into their tri-match at Wilkes University on Oct. 26. They face-off with Rutgers-Camden at 1:00 p.m. before taking on Wilkes at 3:00 p.m.