GRANTHAM, PA. - The Messiah women's volleyball team hosted the MAC Commonwealth Play-In Game against Lebanon Valley this evening and swept the Flying Dutchmen 3-0 (25-18, 25-20, 25-23) to clinch a spot in the MAC Commonwealth semifinals on Wednesday. Messiah will travel to St. David's Pa. to battle the No. 1 seeded Eastern Eagles on Wednesday, November 5 at 7:00 PM.

Mackenzie Feight led the team in kills with 12 and digs with 13, while Emma Swartz had a team high 32 assists.

Action
Messiah started out in command and developed a lead at 13-7 which prompted an LVC timeout. Messiah opened the lead to 17-9 before the Dutchmen rattled off five straight to force a Messiah timeout. Immediately following the timeout, Messiah won three straight points and then it was LVC who used another timeout at 20-14. Messiah opened up a 23-14 lead and then the Dutchmen won four straight before Motheral used another timeout with a 23-18 lead. A service error and a Mackenzie Feight kill later, the Falcons took the first set 25-18 and held a 1-0 lead.

The second set went back and forth with each team trading points until Messiah won four straight to take a 13-8 lead and an LVC timeout followed. Lebanon Valley answered and came within one at 18-17 but Messiah won two straight to make it 20-17 which prompted another LVC timeout. Messiah would pull away and take the set 25-20 to open up a two set lead in the match.

In the third set, Messiah held a lead at 12-9 before the first stoppage was had courtesy of a Lebanon Valley timeout. The Dutchmen rallied to tie the game at 15 but the Falcons pulled away to an 18-15 advantage for Lebanon Valley to take their final timeout. The Falcons held a 22-18 lead before LVC came within two to set up a Messiah timeout. There was one final timeout called on Messiah's side when the Falcons held the lead at 24-23 after LVC fought off match point. A service error after the timeout gave the Falcons the 25-23 set win and the 3-0 match win.

Stats
Feight and Lielbriedis led the team in kills with 12 and 11 respectively while Emma Swartz had a team high 32 assists. Feight also led the team in digs with 13. Rachel Garratt had a team high four service aces. Messiah had 44 kills on the night as a team.

Up Next
With the win, the Falcons will travel to St. David's, Pa to face the No. 1 seeded Eastern Eagles for the MAC Semifinals set for November 5, at 7:00 PM. Earlier this season Messiah fell to Eastern 3-1 (17-25, 19-25, 31-29, 21-25) and will look to avenge that loss this Wednesday at Eastern at 7:00 PM