GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Messiah women's volleyball team held their home opener on Wednesday against the Elizabethtown Blue Jays. The Falcons earned a 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 25-17, 25-17) victory over the Blue Jays to move to 4-0 on the young season.
Mackenzie Feight led the charge with 19 kills, six service aces, and 11 digs while
Caitlin Lielbriedis contributed six kills and nine digs.
Cassidy Dell also had a strong match, finishing the night with seven kills and a team-high 15 digs.
Messiah will be back in action on Saturday when they travel to Haverford for a tri-match with Haverford (1:00 p.m.) and Rutgers-Camden (3:00 p.m.).
How it Happened
The Falcons were in a close contest with the opening set even at 12 a piece, but two service aces from
Mackenzie Feight, two Blue Jays errors, and a Barnhart kill extended the Messiah lead to 17-12. From that point on the Falcons would not look back. Messiah continued to hold their lead with
Sarah Hart,
Anna Weldon, and
Katie Quesenberry all notching points as the Falcons took the set 25-19.
Messiah would find themselves in a back-and-forth second set, trading points with the Blue Jays throughout the entirety of the set. Elizabethtown took an early 5-0 lead in the set, but Messiah responded with a 6-0 run to take a 6-5 lead. The Blue Jays responded by winning nine of the nest 13 points to take the lead back at 14-9. From there, the Falcons would find ways to cut the Blue Jay lead down to one multiple times, but Elizabethtown would not surrender a single lead throughout the rest of the set. In the end, the Blue Jays took the set 25-21 and leveled the match at 1-1.
Despite dropping set two, the Falcons responded in dominant fashion in set three. Messiah quickly opened up a 6-2 lead with help from a pair of Feight kills, and multiple Blue Jay errors. From that point on the Falcons would not give up a lead for the remainder of the set. Feight would continue to lead the team with seven kills in the set as Messiah controlled throughout en route to the 25-17 set victory.
The Falcons finished off the match in an impressive performance in the fourth set. Feight would continue her dominance, but the Falcons received help from three-straight Lielbriedis kills and multiple points from Quesenberry as they built a 15-10 lead midway through the set. After a 5-3 Elizabethtown run, Messiah held an 18-15 advantage. Down the stretch, Messiahs' defense would stiffen as they strung together a five-point run to lead 23-15 from two attack errors, and kills from
Leah Youtzy and Feight. The Blue Jays would score two late points, but Messiah would finish off the match on a Feight kill to win the set, 25-17, and the match, 3-1.
What's Up Next
The Falcons will look to keep their strong start going as they head to Haverford for a Tri-Match this Saturday, Sept 9. The Falcons will take on Haverford at 11:00 a.m. before wrapping up their day against Rutgers-Camden at 1:00 p.m.
