The Dickinson Volleyball team suffered a pair of tough losses on Saturday, September 19, falling to Haverford and Messiah in a double header. The Red Devils fell to 5-9 on the season and 0-1 in the Centennial Conference.

Haverford hosted the Red Devils in each team’s Centennial Conference opener. The Fords controlled the match, taking each of the first three sets to win 3-0. In the first set Dickinson battled, trailing only 9-7 in the early going. After an 8-2 run by the home team, Dickinson made a few costly errors and went on to lose the opening set 25-12.

The Fords continued to attack the Red Devils, dominating the second set. After a 5-1 start, Dickinson cut their deficit to two at 6-4. Haverford would take 11 of the next 15 points en route to a 25-9 win in the second set.

The final set proved to be more of the same, as Dickinson held tight early in the set. A surge from Haverford gave them some separation, however, as they pushed their lead to 13-6. After going back and forth for a couple points the hosts pulled away to finish off Dickinson 25-13.

In the second leg of their double header the Red Devils would face another stern test in undefeated Messiah College. Dickinson did well to push the match to four sets before falling 3-1.

After eight point in the first set the Falcons led the Red Devils 5-3. Messiah would go on a run to blow open the set to 18-6. Dickinson battled back, but still lost the opening frame 25-12.

In the second set Dickinson held a slim 9-8 lead early in the set, but the Falcons fought back strongly with a 9-1 run to take a 17-10 lead. Messiah would continue to overpower the Red Devils, and took a 2-0 lead.

Dickinson was not about to roll over, however, as the Red Devils fought back to win a thrilling third set 25-23. Around halfway through the sets the teams were deadlocked at 15. After a strong serving rotation from Arielle Misrok’17, Dickinson had a three-point edge. Messiah pushed back, cutting the lead to one at 20-19 before Dickinson pushed ahead to take the set by two.

I the final set of the match Messiah would pull away, winning its most convincing set of the day to take the game 25-16. Misrok tallied a match-high 18 digs for the Red Devils, while Hannah Smith’19 dished out 13 assets.

The Volleyball team will host Penn St. Altoona in the Kline Center on Wednesday, September 23 with a 7 p.m. start time.