YORK, Pa. – The Messiah women's volleyball team took down the Spartans of York College 3-2 (25-14, 25-23, 18-25, 23-25, 15-13) in a tightly contested conference match on Wednesday night. The Falcons took the first two sets but couldn't find the finishing blow until the final frame in the victory.
 
Messiah advances to 11-1 overall and 3-0 in the MAC Commonwealth in the 2022 campaign and will take on RIT and Scranton in a tri-match on Saturday, September 24 in Scranton, Pa.
 
Falcons topple Spartans in five sets – 3-2 (25-14, 25-23, 18-25, 23-25, 15-13)
Messiah took a 1-0 lead in the match largely due to a massive 17-4 scoring run that finished out the first set. The Falcons didn't allow York any leverage at all in the set and opened the night in dominant fashion with a 25-14 win. Mackenzie Feight racked up six kills in the initial set of the contest.
 
The second set proved to be the blueprint for the rest of the match for both squads. The two teams scored back-and-forth, with the Falcons' four-point scoring run that gave them a 19-17 lead acting as the difference maker in the tight 25-23 victory that put the Falcons up 2-0 on the night.
 
Messiah burst out to a 3-0 lead in the third set, but the Spartans bounced back and went on a 7-3 run to take the advantage. The lead bounced from team-to-team but following a solo block by Julia Bowen and an attack error on York, the Spartans turned it around and recaptured a lead they wouldn't relinquish for the rest of the set, coming out with an 25-18 advantage over the Falcons.
 
The fourth set was the closest yet, with five lead changes, and no more than three points separating the squads at any one time in the match. The Falcons couldn't quite get the job done at the end however, and the match entered a deciding fifth set following the 25-23 defeat.
 
The Falcons looked to be in trouble, down 8-3 early in the fifth set, but stormed back on the heels of a 5-0 scoring run to tie the game at eight apiece. Julia Bowen came up clutch for Messiah in the end. With the game tied 12-12, Bowen rose up and blocked a Spartan attack to give the Falcons a 13-12 advantage. To top it all off, just a few points later with the Falcons up 14-13, Bowen took an Emma Swartz set and blasted a kill to end the set and win the match for the Falcons.
 
Julia Bowen hit .462 and racked up career highs with eight kills and five total blocks for the Falcons in a big win. Mackenzie Feight led the squad with a season-high 23 kills in the match. Joining her with double-digit kills was Caitlin Lielbriedis (11 kills) and Chayney Barnhart (10). The foursome accounted for 52 of Messiah's 60 total kills on the night.
 
Emma Swartz dished out a career-high 50 assists in the match, along with 12 digs. Maddy Eby (17 digs), Caitlin Lielbriedis (14), and Mackenzie Feight (10) joined her with double-digit digs.
 
Messiah improved to 2-0 this season in five-set matches.
 
What's Next
 
The Falcons travel to Scranton on Saturday, September 24 to take on RIT and the University of Scranton in a tri-match with contests set to begin at 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., respectively.