The Virginia Wesleyan University women's volleyball team (20-4, 9-1 ODAC) defeated Messiah in a five-set thriller, losing the first two sets 25-23, 25-21, and winning the next three sets, 25-23, 25-19, and 15-9. Then, the Marlins lost to Salisbury in four sets, 25-18, 16-25, 20-25, and 17-25.
Match 1 vs. Messiah:
Hannah Smith led the team as she tallied 23 kills, with a .296 hitting percentage, a career-high 30 digs, two service aces, and one assist,
Emma Claytor registered 16 kills, a .344 hitting percentage, three block assists, one solo block, and one dig, and
Madi Schmidt recorded 11 kills, 11 digs, three service aces, one block assist, and one assist.
Messiah jumped out to an early 5-1 lead, but the Marlins responded with a big 10-3 rally to take an 11-8 lead over the Falcons. Messiah countered with a 7-3 run to take a 15-14 lead midway through the set. The Falcons went on a 4-1 run to extend their lead to 19-16, but VWU won the next three points to tie the set at 19-19. The Falcons outscored Virginia Wesleyan 6-4 at the end of the set to win 25-23.
The Falcons built an 8-5 lead over the Marlins early in the set but were able to respond with a 4-0 run to give them a 9-8 lead. Messiah rallied and went on a 9-1 run to lead 17-10. Over the next nine points, the Marlins outscored the Falcons 6-3 to bring the score to 20-16. Messiah scored the next two points to lead 22-16, but Virginia Wesleyan countered with a 4-0 run to cut the lead to 22-20. Messiah outscored VWU 3-1 to win set two 25-21.
In the third set, Messiah jumped out to an early 8-5 lead with the momentum from winning the first two sets. Virginia Wesleyan rallied going on a 7-1 run to take a 12-9 lead. The Falcons countered with a 6-1 run to retake the lead at 15-13. VWU chipped away at the Messiah lead at was able to tie the match at 21 all. The Falcons won back-to-back points to lead 23-21, but VWU rallied winning the next four points to win the third set 25-23.
With momentum on their side, the Marlins jumped out to an immense 10-2 lead. Messiah stopped the run with a 3-1 run to bring the score to 11-5, but the Marlins went on a 4-1 run to extend their lead to 15-6. Messiah strung together some great offense and went on an 8-3 run to bring the score to 18-14 and continued to surge to bring the score to 20-18. However, the Marlins outscored Messiah 5-1 to win the fourth set 25-19.
Virginia Wesleyan came out strong going on an 8-1 run to start set five. The Falcons went on a 4-2 run after switching sides to bring the score to 10-5, but the Marlins went on to win the fifth set 15-9.
Match 2 vs. Salisbury:
Hannah Smith led the offense with 19 kills, 22 digs, two block assists, one solo block, two service aces, and one assist,
Emma Claytor registered nine digs, a .333 hitting percentage, four solo blocks, two service aces, three digs, and two assists, and
Salena Jones had one kill, led the team with 23 assists, 14 digs, one service ace, and one block assist.
The Seagulls built a 6-2 lead early in the first set, but the Marlins countered with a 5-1 run to tie the set at 7-7. Virginia Wesleyan went on to outscore Salisbury 8-4 to lead 15-12 midway through the set, but the host rallied with a 4-1 run to tie the set at 16-16. VWU rallied and went on a 9-2 run to win the first set 25-18.
Salisbury came out strong in set two to lead 10-5, but VWU chipped away at the lead and brought the score to 15-12. The Seagulls responded with an 8-2 run to bring the score to 23-14 and went on to win the second set 25-16.
The third set was crucial, and both teams fought hard as the teams were tied at 6-6 early in the set. The Seagulls were the first to break away and went on a 6-0 run to lead 12-6. However, Virginia Wesleyan responded with their own 6-0 run to tie the set at 12-12. The Seagulls pulled ahead slightly but the Marlins tied the match again at 15-15. Salisbury then started to pull away as they outscored the Marlins 7-3 to lead 22-18. The Seagulls went on to win the third set 25-20.
Virginia Wesleyan came out on fire in the fourth set with a 6-1 score, but the host clawed back with a 5-1 run to bring the score to 7-6. VWU scored the next two points, but the Seagulls went on a 7-2 run to take a 13-11 lead. The Marlins responded with a 5-2 run to retake the lead at 16-15. Salisbury went on a big rally outscored VWU 10-1 to win the fourth set 25-17.
