SALISBURY, MD. – Saturday evening, the Messiah women's volleyball team suffered an 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 26-24) loss to the Seagulls of Salisbury University. Each set was tightly contested, but the Seagulls managed to pull out the win handing Messiah their first loss since September 21st. In set one, despite early success from the Falcons defense, they could not keep Salisburys offense contained dropping set one 25-18. In set two, the Falcons persistent attack from Sarah Hart and Julia Bowen proved to be strong. However, it was not enough to best the Seagulls as they dropped set two 25-19. In the final set, Messiah pushed Salisbury to the brink holding a lead as big as six, but the Seagull persevered to rally and win the final set 26-24. In the second match of the day despite taking a two set lead over Virginia Wesleyan, the Marlins were able to come from behind to win in five sets (25-23, 25-21, 23-25, 19-25, 9-15). The Falcons dominated the pace of play for two sets looking to revenge the loss to the Marlins from earlier in the year. However, a late rally in set three from Virginia Wesleyan to steal the set switched the momentum in the Marlins favor for the remainder of the match. In set four, the Marlins took an early lead and never looked back to tie the match at 2-2 with a set four win. In a fifth and final set Virginia Wesleyan took an early 8-1 lead. Despite a late push from the Falcons to cut it to 12-8, the Marlins closed it out 15-9 to pull off the reverse sweep. 
 
Up Next: The Falcons will take on Hood College Tuesday Oct 29th at 7:00p.m. 
 
Salisbury defeats Messiah 3-0 (25-18, 25-19, 26-24)

How It Happened: 
Set One
The Falcons got off to a good start against the Seagulls, grabbing an early 5-2 advantage. Sarah Hart, Makenzie Adams, and Caitlin Lielbriedis all got involved for the Falcons. The Seagulls offense started to find a rhythm chipping away at the Falcons, but some solid Messiah defense and points from Hart kept Salisbury at bay with the score showing 9-7. However, multiple Falcon errors allowed the Seagulls to overcome the deficit to take an 12-10 lead. Over the next stretch of points, the Falcons would rally behind Lielbriedis serves to cut the deficit to 15-14. But a strong continued attack from the Seagulls allowed them to extend their lead to 18-14. Despite finding some success through Hart on the offensive end, Messiah has minimal answers for Sailsburys offense trailing 22-16 late. The Seagulls would than close out the set scoring four of the final six points to take set one 25-18.
 
Set Two
Early on both teams exchanged a couple of points, but behind Kate Howes serve the Falcons would score four straight to take an 7-3 lead. However, the Seagulls would use strong serves of their own to tie the set up at 8-8. Despite some struggles from the Falcons, they never wavered in their aggressive attacks. Tied 10-10, Messiah would score six of the next nine behind Harts two kills to grab a 16-13 lead. As both teams traded a couple of points, a late 4-0 Seagull run forced a Falcons timeout trailing 19-18. Adams would come out of a timeout to tie the set at 19-19. However, another late run allowed Salisbury to take the 25-19 set two win.
 
Set Three
Salisbury would flip the tables in set three grabbing an early 4-1 lead. As the set moved forward the Falcons continued to chip away using a 5-2 run to tie the set up at 8-8. Adams, Bowen, and Aunyka Uresti added to the run giving the Falcons an 12-8 lead. Following a Seagull timeout, Bowen and Emma Swartz got involved in the scoring to extend their lead to 16-10. However, Salisbury did not lose confidence going on an 4-0 run of their own to cut the Falcons lead to 16-14. As the set went on, Salisbury gained more momentum tying it up at 20-20. Despite points from Hart and Leah Youtzy, Salisbury stayed persistent with the set knotted up at 23-23. Following a Salisbury timeout, the Seagulls would go one to score three of the final four points to take set tree 26-24.
 
Stats
Sarah Hart led the team with 12 kills, while Makenzie Adams tallied eight. Emma Swartz finished with 13 assists and 13 digs, with Caitlin Lielbriedis picking up 18 digs.
 
What's Up Next
Messiah will take on Virginia Wesleyan in match two of the Salisbury Tri-Match. This is a rematch from the Messiah Tri-Match where the Marlins defeated the Falcons 3-2.

Virginia Wesleyan defeats Messiah 3-2 (25-23, 25-21, 23-25, 19-25, 9-15)

How it Happened
Set One
After the long rest between matches, the Falcons came out like the fresher team taking an early 6-3 lead. However, the Marlins got settled in and began to chip away tying it up at 7-7. Despite a momentum killing kill from Makenzie Adams, the Marlins continued the attack taking an 11-8 lead. As the match went on the Falcons picked up steam, scoring five of the next six to grab an 13-12 advantage. However, heading into the midway point the set was all knotted up at 15-15. Neither team giving much ground, the Falcons managed to take advantage of a couple Marlin attack errors and a kill from Katie Quesenberry to take a 19-16 lead. The Marlins would again climb back into the set tying it at 19-19, but Julia Bowen and Cynthia Boller added some more points for Messiah taking a late 23-21 lead. Despite some resistance from the Marlins, Messiah would close out the set 25-23.
 
Set Two
Through the early portion of the set, the Falcons managed to grab an early 6-3 lead. However, the Marlins once again would find themselves back into the set tying it up at 10-10. The Marlins however would not do any favors allowing the Falcons to take advantage of multiple attack errors to grab an 15-10 lead. Chayney Barnhart and Emma Swartz would add salt to the wound extending the lead to 17-10. As the set went on the Marlins began to chip away at the lead cutting it to 17-13. However, Adams and Boller added to the Falcon lead extending it to 20-13. Despite a late Marlin push even cutting the deficit to 22-20, Emma Swartz, Bowen, and Hart closed out the set 25-21.
 
Set Three
Messiah jumped out to an early 4-1 lead, but the Marlins kept their composure tying it up at 8-8. Virginia Wesleyan would than take advantage of a couple Falcon errors to gain a 12-9 lead. However, Barnhart, Hart, and Swartz provided a spark as the Falcons soared back into the set tying it at 15-15. Cassidy Dell tacked a service ace, while Messiah got additional help from some Marlin errors to take an 20-18 lead. Despite being down, the Marlins were able to rally from behind to tie it up at 23-23. As the momentum shifted, Messiah was unable to respond dropping the third set 25-23.
 
Set Four
Now seemingly with all the momentum, the Marlins were able to jump on the Falcons early and take an 10-2 lead. As the set went on Virginia Wesleyan never slowed down extending their lead to 17-8. Adams, Dell, and Katie Quesenberry stalled the run, but the Marlins still held an 18-14 lead.  Messiah slowly found a groove offensively even cutting the deficit to 20-18. However, Virginia Wesleyan closed out the set scoring five of the last six to win the set 25-19 forcing a fifth set.
 
Set Five
In a winner take all fifth set, the Marlins looked like the more ready team grabbing an 8-1 lead. It wasn't until three straight Marlin errors that gave the Falcons some life bringing the score to 8-4. The Marlins managed to snag a couple more points to extend their lead to 11-5. However, a last attempt run from the Falcons brought the score to 12-8. It was not enough to win as the Marlins closed it out scoring the final three points to win the set 15-8 and complete the reverse sweep.
 
Stats
Cassidy Dell and Cynthia Boller finished the match with 10 kills each. Katie Quesenberry tallied a team high six blocks, while Emma Swartz strung together 25 assists. Caitlin Lielbriedis finished with 23 digs and three service aces.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons will look to respond against Hood College Tuesday Oct. 29^th at home.