GRANTHAM, Pa. - Messiah women's volleyball played two matches as part of a tri-match this afternoon. The Falcons dropped their first match to Elizabethtown College, 3-1 (18-25, 25-18, 23-25, 19-25), and topped Rutgers-Camden, 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-13), to go 1-1 on the day.
Following the day's competitions, Messiah's record is 12-8, and will return to the court on Tuesday, Oct. 12, when they travel to Hood College to take on the Blazers at 7:00 p.m.
Elizabethtown defeats Messiah 3-1
The Blue Jays took down the Falcons 3-1 (18,25, 25-18, 23-25, 19-25) early this afternoon.
Caitlin Lielbriedis was dominant, racking up 21 kills in the match with
Mackenzie Feight next in line with 13 kills.
Amanda Dahlman tied her season high in digs with 26.
Messiah jumped out to a 7-2 lead early in the first set, but the Blue Jays battled back after a quick timeout. Elizabethtown won 11 of the next 12 points to take a 13-8 lead midway through the set. The teams would trade points back and forth, but the Blue Jays kept the lead and won the first set 25-18. Both teams ended the first set with ten kills each, but Messiah had nine attack errors to Elizabethtown's four attack errors.
Messiah cleaned up the attack errors in set two, only having four of them while accumulating 17 kills in the set. The set featured five tie scores and four lead changes, but Messiah was able to take control midway in the set, winning seven of nine points on route to the 25-18 second set win to even the score at 1-1.
Set three started out with Messiah again quickly getting ahead 7-2. The Blue Jays won six of the next seven points after a quick timeout to even the score at 8-8. After trading points, the Falcons won four points to go up 18-14 after being tied at 14, which promoted another Blue Jays timeout. It worked as Elizabethtown won five of the next seven points to tie the match at 19 all and forced a Messiah timeout. The Blue Jays continued their attack and went up 23-20 and prompted yet another Messiah timeout. The Falcons fought off three set points to bring the score to 24-23 but the Blue Jays won the final point and took the third set 25-23. The Blue Jays closed the set on an 11-5 run to claim the 2-1 set lead.
The fourth set was tightly contested throughout but Elizabethtown started to pull away late again winning six of seven points to go up 21-18. The Falcons called a timeout, but the Blue Jays proved once again to be too much for the Falcons, winning the fourth set 25-19 and the overall match 3-1.
Stats
As mentioned,
Caitlin Lielbriedis was dominant on the afternoon generating 21 kills, a season high for Lielbriedis.
Mackenzie Feight had the second most kills on the day with 13 and
Tatum Oakley chipped in with timely kills throughout the match and got eight.
Kristen Seibert led the team in assists with 36 while
Amanda Dahlman tallied 26 digs on the day which also led the team. That tied her match high this season, as she recorded 26 digs on September 11 against Lynchburg as well
Messiah defeats Rutgers-Camden 3-0
Messiah swept the Scarlet Raptors 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-15) to earn a 1-1 split on the day. Messiah used 41 kills and nine aces to win commandingly against Rutgers-Camden.
Rachel Rashford led the Falcons with 11 kills while
Amanda Dahlman led the team in digs with 14.
Messiah dominated this match as Rutgers-Camden stood no chance on the afternoon. Messiah exploded in the first set jumping out to a 12-3 lead after nine straight points and never looked back and won the first set 25-15.
The second set was much of the same as Messiah used an early lead to put Rutgers-Camden on the ropes early leading 9-4 and then 22-14. The third set was dominated again by Messiah, who won 10 of 11 points to take a 16-7 lead in the third set. That lead became 22-12 before Messiah officially closed the door and won the third set 25-15.
Stats
Rachel Rashford led the Falcons in kills with 11 and
Chayney Barnhart added 10 kills.
Caitlin Lielbriedis tacked on seven kills as well.
Kristen Seibert tallied 29 of the 33 assists while
Amanda Dahlman once again led the team in digs with 14.
Mackenzie Feight also added 10 digs in the match.
What's Up Next
The split brings the Falcons record to 12-8 and will face Hood College in Frederick, Md. on October 12 at 7:00pm.
