GRANTHAM, Pa.- The Messiah College men's volleyball team picked up their fifth win of the season after they defeated Arcadia University 3-1(20-25, 25-16, 28-26, 25-19) on Wednesday evening. With this win, the Falcons remained undefeated in the Middle Atlantic Conference (3-0) and moved to 5-2 overall. Messiah also handed the Knights their first loss in the MAC. Arcadia moved to 3-1 in the conference and 7-7 overall.

Offensively, the match was very up and down but Messiah was able to hit a solid .293 in the four sets which is above their team average (.276). Arcadia posted a .215 on the match after they collected 46 kills and committed 20 errors on 121 attempts. The Falcons received eight blocks on the evening, led by Noah Shreiner (4) and Brad Nase (4). Jarred Sands added three roofs of his own.

Matt Knab led the Falcons' offense with 15 kills (.433), while fellow outside hitter, Logan Hunsberger collected 14 kills (.242). Travis Hoover was dominant on the right pin and added 11 kills while Jarred Sands contributed 10 and hit an impressive .533 out of the middle position. Caleb Weaver led the Falcons' defensive line with 15 digs and Matt Knab added 13 from the middle back position.

Errors, Errors, Errors
Although, Messiah started the match aggressively, their errors got the best of them and they dropped the first game 25-20. The Falcons collected eight of their 18 attack errors in the first game and also added four service errors.

The game started with both teams trading point-for-point but at 9-9 Messiah took off on a four-point scoring run. Logan Hunsberger started the run with a kill, followed by another kill from Travis Hoover. Jarred Sands picked up the third-straight point after he blocked a ball in the middle and Brad Nase finished the run with an ace. However, Arcadia responded with a 6-to-0 run of their own and the Falcons' trailed the Knights 15-12. Messiah began to fight and tied the game up at 18-18 but the Knights closed out the set on a 7-to-2 run to win the first set 25-20.

Messiah Rebounds and Dominates
The Falcons turned things around majorly in the second set and hit a .545. They had no attack errors and terminated the ball 12 times on 22 attempts. Arcadia on the other hand collected eight attack errors and only posted a .152 attack percentage. Arcadia struggled to find a rhythm offensively in game two as they had to make a setter change due to an injury.

Messiah started things off on a 3-0 run after Arcadia committed three-straight errors. The Knights were able to side out after Jason Manley put away a ball but Logan Hunsberger responded with a kill of his own to keep the momentum with the Falcons. Messiah was up 5-3 and exploded on a 6-to-1 scoring run to pull ahead 11-4. Three of these points were on back-to-back-to-back hitting errors by the Knights. Messiah and Arcadia traded points back-and-forth but an error by the Knights, a kill by Jarred Sands, and an ace by Logan Hunsberger gave the Falcons an eight-point lead (16-8). Arcadia didn't let up but Messiah did an outstanding job siding out in the middle and end of game to hold their lead. Jarred Sands terminated off of Brad Nase's set to win the game 25-16 and to even up the match at 1-1.

Fans Get Their Money's Worth
Game three was action-packed and the game was tied 12 different times. Messiah was victorious 28-26 but the Knights made them earn their points. Although the Falcons won game three, the Knights began to find their offensive rhythm again and hit an impressive .393 as a team and only committed two attack errors.

The game was tied at 20-20 and the Knight's scored back-to-back points to pull ahead which caused Head Coach Justin Beachy to call a time-out. Messiah came out of the time-out and executed to narrow the lead to one-point but Arcadia responded with a kill of their own to pull ahead 23-21. The Knights committed a service error at a crucial moment and the momentum began to swing Messiah's way. The next play, Matt Knab terminated a ball for Messiah to tie the game up at 23-23. Both teams battled and the score was tied three more times but Matt Knab, once again, collected a kill followed by an ace off the tape to win game three 28-26.

Falcons Fly To Victory
After an emotional game three, the Knights came out flat with low energy in the fourth. Messiah started the game on a 7-to-2 run causing Arcadia to call an early timeout. Messiah continued to build their lead up to 12-5 but then Arcadia scored four-straight points to narrow the Falcons' advantage (12-9). Messiah started to get comfortable which opened up a door for the Knights and they came within two-points of the lead (15-13). The Falcons then went on a 9-to-4 scoring run to reach match point, however two errors by Messiah kept Arcadia in the game. The match ended on a service error by the Knights and Messiah picked up a solid 3-1 win to remain undefeated in the conference.  

Up Next
Messiah will be back in action on Thursday, Feb. 22 when they host Stevenson University, and this will be a battle for the top spot in the conference. Match time is set for 7:00 pm.