CHESTER, Pa. – The Messiah College men's volleyball team defeated the Maranatha Baptist Sabercats 3-0 (25-20, 25-12, 25-18) on Friday evening. The Falcons moved to 12-7 overall with this dominated performance.
Messiah had a much improved offensive performance and hit a .397 on the evening while Maranatha hit a .131.
Will Webb led the Falcons in kills with 10 terminations and
Ian Parzyszek added nine.
Brendan Warren and
Jarred Sands each added six kills for the Falcons.
Thomas Wood led Messiah's offense with 35 assists and also added four aces.
Matt High did a great job defended the back row and gathered 11 digs.
Messiah had a dominant start to the match and opened on a 4-0 run in the first set, which included an ace from
Ian Parzyszek and two kills from
Jarred Sands and
Brendan Warren. Messiah continued to build upon their lead and held a 10-4 advantage early in the game. However, Marantha scored five-straight points to bring Messiah's lead down to one. The Falcons were able to side out and pull ahead midway through the set and after a kill from
Brendan Warren off of
Thomas Wood's delivery Messiah was up 18-13. The Sabercats were able to go on a 4-to-0 scoring run after three-straight errors by the Falcons and a kill from their outside hitter Derek Wallis and were once again within one point of the lead. Messiah came out of their timeout and regained the momentum. At the end of game one, the Falcons scored four points in-a-row to secure a 25-20 win.
The second set was Messiah's best offensive showing in the entire match. The Falcons hit an outstanding .611 after they collected 13 kills on 18 attempts and only committed three errors. The beginning of the set was close and Messiah held a 6-5 lead, but then they launched off on a 7-to-0 scoring run to pull ahead 13-5. The teams traded a few points back and forth but
Brendan Warren got the Falcons flying again and they pulled ahead 17-8. Messiah finished the set outscoring the Sabercats 8-4 and won game two 25-12.
The third and final began with both teams trading points back-and-forth. Maranatha held a 13-12 lead over the Falcons, however Messiah scored five-straight points to pull ahead 17-13. The Sabercats cut Messiah's lead down to two points after back-to-back terminations but Messiah once again took off on a 6-to-2 run to gain a 23-17 advantage. The Falcons finished the set with a kill from
Mason McCullough and a block by
Quay San and
Will Webb and defeated the Sabercats 25-18.
The Falcons will be back in action on Saturday, Mar. 24 when they host Alvernia University at 2:00 p.m.
