Grantham, Pa. (Oct. 30, 2017) - Fifth-seeded Alvernia University (16-11) earned a 3-2 comeback win over #4 Messiah College (14-17) Monday evening in the play-in game of the MAC Commonwealth Women's Volleyball Championships at Messiah.

Alvernia--making its first postseason appearance in 10 years--got off to a good start with a 25-21 win in the opening set.  Messiah leveled the match with an identical win in the second set then stormed through the third set taking a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-10 win.  Alvernia rebounded and was able to take the last four points of the fourth set for a 25-23 win then held off the Falcons in a 15-13 win in the fifth.

Senior Kristen Sipling led the way with 15 kills for Alvernia.  Junior Emily Smith and Laura Wachowicz had 11 kills each.  Wachowicz added a team-high 18 digs, and Abby O'Donnell handed out 43 assists.

Messiah took a 9-5 lead early in the first set, but Alvernia rallied back for a 15-14 lead and had 1-point leads on six different occasions down the stretch before closing out the 25-21 win.

Messiah scored the first two points of the second set, but again Alvernia responded with a run of eight straight points for a commanding 8-2 lead.  The Falcons slowly chipped away at the deficit before a run of four straight points leveled the match at 16-all.  The hosts pulled ahead 19-17 then stayed at arm's length for the 25-21 win.

Messiah benefited from six Alvernia errors in the early stages of the third set and took a 9-0 lead.  That gap grew as big as 14-2 and 18-3 with Messiah eventually closing out the 25-10 win.

Alvernia needed to reestablish some momentum in the fourth and it didn't have a promising start with O'Donnell pushing a set wide of the antenna to start.  He next set was on target and Smith hammered it down to knot the score at 1-1.  Both teams put together runs with the score tied six times before it was locked at 21-all.

Messiah scored consecutive points on an ace and a kill from Ellen Mussleman for a 23-21 lead.  Alvernia got the side out on a Messiah hitting error then a Smith kill knotted the score at 23-23.  Smith's next kill was three straight points for the Golden Wolves, and a Messiah error gave Alvernia the 25-23 win.

The momentum stayed with Alvernia into the fifth set with the guests getting off to a 6-0 start, but Messiah didn't go quietly.  Down 11-6, the Falcons were able to trade two for one with Alvernia to pull within a point at 14-13.  Alvernia took a timeout and returned to the floor to set up Sipling for one more swing that found the floor for the win.

Alvernia advances to the MAC Commonwealth semifinal and will travel to top-seeded Stevenson on Wednesday.

#5 Alvernia 3, #4 Messiah 2