GRANTHAM, Pa.– Eastern University Women's Volleyball (19-9) rallied from two sets down to force a fifth set, but the host Messiah University Falcons jumped to an early lead in the fifth and held on to claim the program's first MAC Commonwealth Championship.
Grace Casagrande picked up 38 digs to lead the Eagles in the rally.
In front of a large home crowd, Falcons built a big lead in the first set and pulled away to a 24-13 lead. Casagrande closed the gap with a big serving run, but the rally fell short when the Falcons earned a sideout to go up 1-0 with a 25-19 win.
Though the second set went back-and-forth, the Falcons had the Eagles out of substitutions at 23-23. With
Hannah Pringle serving for the first time in match this year, the Eagles kept a point alive with a chance to go up, but the Falcons kept the ball alive and got a kill in transition for a 24-23 lead. Out of a timeout, the Eagles got the pass they needed, but Messiah middle hitter Katie Quesenberry read the set and ended the frame with a solo block.
Down two sets, the Eagles showed their mettle with a great response in the third set. They matched the Falcons' defensive effort and kept balls alive while serving aggressively to put the hosts out of system.
McKenzie Boyer had three kills and Pringle had four.
Bridgette Kelly had a big serving run to put the Eagles up 11-6, and the rest of the Eastern servers seemed to find momentum.
Grace Cooper served the final three balls on the way to a 25-17 win.
The Falcons built an early lead in the fourth, but another run with Kelly at the service line put the Eagles up 14-9. The teams traded sideouts through a number of rotations until Kelly came back to the service line after earning a sideout on a big block with Boyer for a 20-16 lead. The Eagles went up 21-16 on an attack error and then added a point ona block from
Natalie Saxton and
Jailene Lugo. The Eagles went up 23-16, but needed a big solo block from Saxton to get to set point at 24-20. The teams again traded sideouts to go to a fifth set.
With the MAC Commonwealth Championship on the line, both teams were picking almost everything up behind the block in the fourth. Casagrande had 12 of Eastern's 36 digs in the set. Messiah's Cassidy Dell matched her number with 12. Neither team hit a positive number in the grueling frame.
The Falcons jumped out to a 9-3 lead in the short fifth set. Despite the emotional lift from a pair of
Logan Martin kills, the Eagles could not close the gap.
As happened in the regular season test between the two teams, neither team hit a big number. Pringle led the Eagles with 17 kills, and Boyer added nine kills with a solid .231 hitting percentage. Kelly finished with seven kills, four blocks and two aces. The Falcons had three hitters with 12 kills and another with 10. Caitlin Liebridis posted 26 digs and two aces and was named Tournament MVP.
"Messiah is a great team and very well-coached. "Head Coach
Mark Birtwistle said after the match. "I am proud of the we fought back after being down 0-2 . We gave a strong effort all the way through. This group of seniors and grads had a huge impact on our program. They came just shy of 100 wins in their career, which is an amazing accomplishment. Not only will their talents be missed but we will miss who they were as teammates and friends."
Eastern Women's Volleyball has reached 29 consecutive conference championship games, and has won 24 league championships since 1997. The loss most likely marks an end for a tremendous group of seniors and graduate students who won three MAC Commonwealth Championships. Messiah claims the MAC Commonwealth's automatic bid to the NCAA TOurnament which starts next week.
