GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Messiah College men's volleyball team defeated the Highlanders from Cairn University 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-22) on Monday evening. The Falcons moved to 9-3 overall while the Highlanders fell to 5-12.

The Falcons hit a .314 on the match after collecting 40 kills and only committing 13 errors on 86 attempts. Cairn struggled offensively and hit a .125 (27 kills, 17 errors) after three sets of play. Travis Hoover led the way on the right-side attack by hitting a .562 and collected ten kills for Messiah. Logan Hunsberger added seven kills of his own and gathered three digs. Brad Nase delivered 27 assists and added four digs, while Thomas Wood came in and contributed 13 assists and four digs as well. Libero Brendan Warren dominated serve receive and defense and led Messiah with seven digs.

Messiah opened the match strong and launched to a 6-2 lead over the Highlanders. However, Cairn came within one-point of the lead after Messiah committed back-to-back errors (8-7). The Falcons recovered and went on a 4-to-1 run past the Highlanders (12-8). Once again, the Highlanders responded and went on to score three-straight points to bring Messiah's lead down to one (13-12). The Falcons sided-out with a kill by Matt Knab, followed by Noah Shreiner's kill, which generated some momentum. Messiah closed out the set with a kill from Jarred Sands and an error from Cairn to win game one 25-19.

The Falcons dominated the second set and hit a .393, their best offensive showing of the match. Cairn on the other hand struggled and only collected five kills while committing five errors. Cairn started out with an early 4-2 advantage, but the Falcons went on a seven-point run past the Highlanders to regain the lead (9-4). Travis Hoover started the run off with a kill and then served six times in-a-row before making an error. With this error, Cairn went on a short four-point run to come within one-point of the lead (9-8). Messiah answered with a 7-to-1 run, which included three kills from Hunsberger and two from Shreiner and the Falcons pulled ahead 16-9.  Messiah and Cairn battled back-and-forth for a few points but the Falcons eventually closed out the set with five-straight points and grabbed the 2-0 advantage over the Highlanders.

Thomas Wood opened the third set similar to how he ended the second, with aggressive serving. Wood led Messiah on a impressive 4-0 start after he collected three aces in-a-row, but he then made an error to give Cairn their first point of the game. Messiah continued to build upon their lead in the middle of the set when Quay San terminated which led to a three-point scoring run and the Falcons were ahead 17-12. Both teams began to exchange points back-and-forth and Messiah held a 23-16 lead looking to close out the match. However, Cairn went on a 4-to-0 run, in which three of their four points were off of Messiah's attacking errors, to cut the Falcon's lead down to four (23-20). Messiah caught a break when the Highlanders' made an attacking error and handed the Falcons match point. Cairn put up a fight and scored two late points, but Quay San sealed the deal for Messiah and scored out of the middle, giving the Falcons their ninth win of the season.

Up Next
The Falcons will travel to Huntingdon Pa to play in the Juniata tri-match on Saturday, Mar. 10. Messiah will take on Ramapo College at 3:00 p.m. and then take on the host team, Juniata, at 5:00 p.m.