GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Messiah Women's Volleyball team defeated the Lancaster Bible College Chargers on Wednesday night in four sets (19-25, 31-29, 25-20, 27-25).
The Chargers started strong in the first before Messiah answered back, with the set being tightly contested until the Chargers pulled away at the end to take a one set lead. The second set started even. The teams traded small runs, with Messiah taking a three-point lead towards the end of the set. The Chargers would storm back, followed by the teams trading points until the Falcons finally won the set, 31-29. The Falcons jumped out to an early lead in the third before the Chargers stormed back to grab the lead for themselves. The Falcons responded with a big run and never looked back, taking the third set comfortably, grabbing a 2-1 set advantage. The Chargers grabbed an early lead in the fourth set, and kept it throughout most of the set, leading 20-16. Messiah then went on a huge run, taking a 24-21 lead. The Chargers responded, tying it at 24, but the Falcons were able to come out on top, winning the match in four sets. Cynthia Boller led the Falcons with 16 kills. Cassidy Dell had 34 assists and 13 digs. Claire Marzolino had 28 digs and three service aces.
 
Up next, the Falcons host the Messiah Invitational on Sept. 19 and 20, with their first match against Cortland on Friday, Sept. 19 at 7:00 p.m.
 
Set One
The Chargers jumped out to an early 5-2 lead after a few Falcon hitting errors. Messiah then got their first kill of the match from Sydney Wolfe to make it 5-3. The Chargers took their three-point lead back at 6-3, but two Charger errors and a Katie Quesenberry kill tied the set at six. The Chargers grabbed the lead back, winning the next four points to make it 10-6. Messiah stopped the run after a Charger service error and then picked up the next four points after two Claire Marzolino service aces and two Cynthia Boller kills, taking their first lead of the set, 11-10. Cynthia Boller added another kill, and Makenzie Adams got her first as the teams traded points, with the Chargers leading 17-16. The Chargers then took control with strong offense, winning the set 25-19.
 
Set Two
Makenzie Adams and Katie Quesenberry got early kills in the second set, as the teams jumped out to a 2-2 tie. The Chargers won the next three points, forcing a Messiah timeout. Quesenberry added another kill after the timeout to make it 5-3. Makenzie Adams then added another kill to tie the set at five, but the Chargers would go on another small run, taking the lead back, 8-5. Two Charger errors would give Messiah the next two points, and Adams followed it up with a service ace to tie the set 8-8. Katie Quesenberry grabbed the next two points with a kill and solo block to force a Charger timeout, with Messiah leading 10-8. After the timeout, Makenzie Adams picked up another service ace and Cynthia Boller added a kill to make it 12-8. Messiah kept the lead, extending it to five points at 15-10. The Chargers started to close the gap after a few Messiah hitting errors and an ace, tying the set 16-16. Messiah got the lead back to three behind kills from Leah Youtzy and Makenzie Adams. Down 21-18, the Chargers called a timeout and grabbed the momentum back to tie the set 23-23, forcing a Messiah timeout. Out of the timeout, Cynthia Boller picked up a kill to give the Falcons set point. However, the Chargers won the next two points to take a 25-24 lead and grab their own chance at set point. Makenzie Adams grabbed two more kills, Katie Quesenberry added a kill, and the teams traded service errors, with the score sitting at 29-29. One final Charger service error gave the Falcons a 30-29 lead, and Cynthia Boller picked up another kill, giving the Falcons the marathon set, 31-29.
 
Set Three
The Falcons started the third set strong, with a Julia Bowen kill and Erin Eby service ace helping Messiah out to a 5-2 lead. Makenzie Adams and Cassidy Dell each added aces pushing the Falcon lead to 7-4. The Chargers grabbed the next five points to take the lead 9-7. Down 11-9, the Falcons went on a six-point run behind kills from Makenzie Adams and Julia Bowen, plus an Ellie Hansen service ace to take a 15-11 lead. The Chargers got the next point, but Messiah responded with a kill from Adams and back-to-back service aces from Erin Eby, forcing a Charger timeout. Messiah kept the pressure on, with kills from Cynthia Boller and service aces from Cassidy Dell and Makenzie Adams putting the set out of reach, with Messiah winning 25-20.
 
Set Four
Julia Bowen started set four with a kill, but four straight points from the Chargers gave them a 4-1 lead, forcing Messiah to call an early timeout. The Chargers extended the lead after the timeout, using a service ace to make the set 11-5. A Charger service error ended the run, which led to kills from Leah Youtzy and Cynthia Boller to cut the lead down to three at 11-8. The Chargers called timeout, and grabbed the next two points to get the lead back to five. Cynthia Boller added two more kills to her total, and Leah Youtzy and Makenzie Adams each grabbed a kill, but the Chargers maintained the advantage, leading 18-12. Julia Bowen and Katie Quesenberry got back-to-back kills to make it 18-14, and then the team traded points, with the Chargers leading 20-15. Messiah then went on a five-point run, including two kills from Cynthia Boller and a Claire Marzolino service ace to tie the set at 20. The Chargers won the next point to get the lead back, but Messiah won the next four points after kills from Cynthia Boller and Julia Bowen, plus a Cassidy Dell service ace to make it 24-21, with the Falcons needing just one point to win the match. However, the Chargers would not go away, winning four straight points to take a 25-24 lead, needing one point to force a fifth set. The Falcons responded with a kill from Julia Bowen to tie it at 25, a Cassidy Dell kill to make it 26-25, and a Makenzie Adams kill to make it 27-25, winning the set and match.
 
Stats
Cynthia Boller led the Falcons with 16 kills. Claire Marzolino had a team-high 28 digs and three service aces. Makenzie Adams had 14 kills, 18 digs, and three service aces. Cassidy Dell had 38 assists and 13 digs. Julia Bowen had six kills plus a team-high four block assists. Erin Eby had 21 digs and three service aces. Katie Quesenberry had six kills, one solo block, and three block assists. Hannah Thomas added ten digs.
 
Up Next
Up next, the Falcons host the Messiah Invitational on Sept. 19 and 20, with their first match against Cortland on Friday, Sept. 19 at 7:00 p.m.