St. David's Pa. – Messiah women's volleyball lost a five-set heartbreaker late on Wednesday night to Eastern University 3-2. The Eagles won the first two sets before Messiah rattled off the next two to force a fifth set. Eastern would go on to win the fifth set 16-14 and the match 3-2 (25-20, 25-22, 16-25, 23-25, 16-14). Mackenzie Feight led the team with 17 kills and added 11 digs in the match.
 
Eastern defeats Messiah 3-2
Eastern defeated Messiah 3-2 (25-20, 25-22, 16-25, 23-25, 16-14) to advance to the MAC Commonwealth Championship on Saturday and will face Stevenson University.
 
Messiah jumped out to an early lead in the first set with an 8-2 advantage. That lead was maintained, and the Falcons were up 17-10 before Eastern went on a tear. The Eagles dominated the back half of the set, winning 15 of 18 points to give them the 1-0 lead. Eastern ended the set on seven straight points to win 25-20.
 
The second set was well contested midway through, until Eastern took command and took a 19-15 lead. After going up 24-18, the Falcons attempted a comeback and won four straight points to bring the deficit to two, but a Bridgette Kelly kill ended the set and gave Eastern a strong 2-0 lead.
 
This was a familiar position for Messiah as the Falcons were also down two sets to none before reverse sweeping the Eagles back in October in the regular season. Messiah and Eastern traded leads early before Messiah pulled away midway through. Messiah had leads of 17-11, 19-12 and 23-13 and ultimately came away with the convincing third set win 25-16 to keep the match alive.
 
The fourth set started out similarly as the third, with each team trading brief leads and neither team having a lead of more than three. Midway through the set Messiah won seven of eight points to take a 19-16 lead. Messiah would then go on to hold a 24-19 lead before Eastern won four straight points to bring the match score within one. One ball handling error later from Eastern gave the set to Messiah 25-23 to force the decisive fifth set.
 
Eastern felt the pressure early as a repeat reverse sweep for the Falcons loomed large. Messiah held a commanding 9-4 lead in the set thanks to a couple of Caitlin Lielbriedis kills. Eastern won three of the next five points to cut the Messiah led to four at 11-7. Three kills and an attack error later, the match was knotted at 11 all. The teams traded points as the score went to 13-13 before a Caitlin Lielbriedis kill gave the Falcons match point at 14-13. Jailene Lugo matched Lielbriedis with a kill of her own to even the score back up at 14. Eastern was able to win their 15^th point due to an attack error from the Falcons and finished off the set with a service ace from Will Grace to take the final set 16-14, and the match 3-2.
 
Stats
Mackenzie Feight had another strong night tallying 17 kills while tacking on 11 digs. Caitlin Lielbriedis was next in line with 12 kills on the evening.
 
Kristen Seibert had a team high 29 assists while Emma Swartz had 15. Amanda Dahlman led the team with 16 digs and added five service aces in the match.
 
Up Next
The loss unfortunately ends the Falcons season and will finish with a 20-9 overall record.
 
More Stats
Mackenzie Feight led the Falcons on offense all year, totaling 395 kills averaging 3.76 kills per set. Caitlin Lielbriedis and Rachel Rashford were the other two falcons to crack the 200 kill mark, with Lielbriedis at 227 and Rashford at 201.
 
Kristen Seibert led the team in assists on the year with 835, averaging 8.88 assists per set. Emma Swartz had 149 assists on the year, good enough for second on the team.
 
Amanda Dahlman finished with 488 digs on the year, averaging 4.69 digs per set. Mackenzie Feight was next in line with 333 digs on the year.
 
Rachel Rashford led the team in blocks with 49 while Chayney Barnhart had 45 on the season.
 
Kristen Seibert and Rachel Garratt tied for the team lead in services aces with 37.