St. DAVIDS, Pa. – On Tuesday evening, the Messiah women's volleyball team defeated Eastern in a hard fought 3-2 (25-27, 27-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-10) match to grab the top seed in the MAC Commonwealth tournament. The Falcons suffered a close set one loss but responded well to win the next two sets to grab an 2-1 match lead. After suffering an tough set four loss, the Falcons came into the fifth and final set determined, striking early and often to secure the 15-10 win and the match victory.
 
 Up Next
The Falcons will host No 4 Stevenson University in the MAC Commonwealth semi-final Wednesday, Nov. 13th.
 
How It Happened
Set One
The Eagles got off to a strong start taking a quick 3-1 lead. However, Chayney Barnhart, Cassidy Dell, and a couple Eagle errors gave the Falcons an 7-5 lead. As the set continued Sarah Hart and Katie Quesenberry provided key offense and defense to extend the Falcons lead to 12-10. Despite two high powered offenses, errors from both teams brought the score to 15-12 with the Falcons leading at the midway point. However, a strong net presence from Dell and Barnhart grabbing key blocks extended the Falcon lead to 17-12. The Eagles were able to capitalize off a couple Falcon errors, but Messiah stayed composed getting contribution from all over the floor holding on to a 21-18 advantage. Eastern would go on a small run to cut the Falcons lead to 22-21, Julia Bowen and Dell would grab two kills giving Messiah match point. However, Eastern would rally back to tie it up at 24-24 forcing a Falcon timeout. Following the timeout, Hart picked up a strong kill, but it was not enough to pull out the win, as Eastern scored the final three points to win the set 27-25.
 
Set Two
Both teams continued their competitive play exchanging points early on, but Bowen and Quesenberry picked up early kills to give Messiah an 9-7 advantage. The Eagles were able to gain their first lead of the set at 10-9, but the Falcons responded well to regain a 12-11 lead with kills from Barnhart and Quesenberry. However, three straight kills for the Eagles gave them a 14-12 advantage. Dell provided a spark with back-to-back kills herself followed by a Hart kill, cut the Eagle lead to 16-15. Messiah would come roaring back to regain a 18-17 lead, with back-to-back points from Makenzie Adams. As both squads exchanged points, the Eagles would come out with an 21-20 lead to force a Messiah timeout. Eastern in prime position to close out the set with an 23-21 lead, found themselves all tied up due to two straight errors giving the Falcons new life at 23-23. Following an Eagle kill, Barnhart and Caitlin Lielbriedis would give Messiah a late 25-24 match point. However, another Eagle kill tied it back up but it was not enough as two Eastern mistakes gave the Falcons a 27-25 set two win.
 
Set Three
As the third set kicked off, neither team gave much grown trading points all knotted up at 5-5 early on. The Eagles picked up a couple kills during the next stretch of points to take an 9-7 lead. However, kills from Adams, Emma Swartz, and Barnhart provided the Falcons the 11-9 advantage. Following an Eagles timeout, Barnhart and back-to-back Eastern errors gave Messiah the 14-11 lead. Though Messiah looked strong offensively, Eastern did as well cutting the Falcon lead to 15-14 at the midway point of the set. Following an Eastern timeout, an 3-1 run gave them a 17-16 lead. The Falcons however didn't waiver, tying the set up at 18-18. Messiah continued its momentum to grab a late 22-19 lead with points from Adams and Bowen. The Falcons rode the hot hand of Adams to a 25-22 set three win.
 
Set Four
The Falcons were able to come out the gates hot, grabbing an early 5-2 kills off the stellar defense from Quesenberry and Lielbriedis. The Eagles however collected themselves well to creep back into the set, but Messiah still held an 11-7 lead. However, four straight points for Eastern tied the set up at 11-11. The Eagles swayed the momentum completely going on to score the next five points to lead 16-11. It wouldn't be until a Cynthia Boller kill that would break up the Eastern run to make it 17-12. Despite late resistance from the Falcons to cut the deficit to 23-19. The Eagles would close out the set two points late to tie the match up at 2-2.
 
Set Five
The Eagles looked to pull off the come from behind win with a set five win. However, despite the Falcons trailing 4-2 early on, Hart and three Eagle errors gave Messiah an 6-4 lead. As the set continued, the Falcons continued to add on with points from Lielbriedis and Dell to grow the lead to 9-5. Quesenberry and Hart provided a little more to extend it to 11-5 but a three-point run for Eastern cut the deficit to 11-8. Following a quick point exchange from both teams, the Falcons took advantage of an Eagle error and a kill from Adams to bring the score to 14-10. After an Eastern point to keep the set alive, Adams would close out the match 15-10 with an emphatic kill giving Messiah the top seed in the MAC Commonwealth tournament.
 
Stats
Makenzie Adams finished the game with a team high 13 kills, while Emma Swartz tallied 23 assists. Caitlin Lilebriedis was once again strong for the Falcons back line picking up 33 digs. Katie Quesenberry dominated at the next contributing on eight blocks.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons will host No 4 Stevenson University in the MAC Commonwealth semi-final Wednesday, Nov. 13th. The start time is still to be determined.