MIDDLETOWN, Pa – The Messiah women's tennis team made their season debut against Penn State Harrisburg. The Falcons defeated Penn State 5-4 collecting two doubles and three singles court wins.

The Falcons will be back on the road Saturday, Sept. 23 against Shippensburg University.

Doubles
Penn State opened the action quickly, taking court one 8-1 over Messiahs Kasi Conjack/ Isabella Heckman. However, the Falcons responded by taking doubles courts two and three handily. Kylie Walker/Rebeckah Sheaffer won court two 8-0, while Kiara Bomboy and Jocelyn Valdez won court three 8-2. Together these doubles gave Messiah the 2-1 lead heading into singles play.

Singles
Singles play began roughly for the Falcons, as Penn State was able to take courts one, two, and three. Penn State's Allison Wootton defeated Conjack 6-0 and 6-4. Breanna Desantis took down Messiah's Walker by scores 6-4 and 6-3.

On court three, Messiah's Bella Hockman was able to grab an early 6-3 set one win. Penn State's Anita Liu was able to respond winning set two 6-4, thus forcing a third set. Both girls determined to get the win would force a tie breaker tied at six. It would be Liu who got the better of the exchanges, winning 10-7 giving Penn State the 4-2 match lead.

But the Falcons would respond well. After suffering the 4-2 match deficit, Messiah would go one to win courts four, five, and six.

On court four, Sheaffer was able to take down Penn State's Hailey Dey by scores of 6-4 and 6-2. Meanwhile, on court five, Bomboy defeated Carissa Fallon in a dominant fashion only giving up a single point in two matches, 6-0 and 6-1. Identically, on court six, Valdez defeated her opponent 6-0 and 6-1 and gave the Falcons the 5-4 overall match win.

What's Up Next
The Falcons improve to 1-0 on the young season and will be back on the road next Saturday against Shippensburg at 1:00 p.m.