ARLINGTON, Va. – The Messiah College men's volleyball team traveled down to No. 12 Marymount University for their season opener on Tuesday evening. The Falcons battled hard in their first match of the season but fell to the Saints in three straight sets (25-21, 25-17, 25-14).
Brad Nase led the Falcons' offense with 24 assists and
Matt Knab collected a game-high of 12 kills. Middle hitters
Jarred Sands and
Noah Shreiner each contributed four kills on the evening. Knab and Sands defended the net with three blocks each, while
Caleb Weaver controlled the backrow with six digs. The Saints found success offensively, hitting a .218 on the evening, while the Falcons struggled to terminate as a team, collecting 25 kills and 21 errors on 75 attempts (.053).
How It Happened
The Falcons opened the match a little shaky in serve receive and trailed (5-1) early in the first set. Marymount continued to pass well and terminate in the front row to remain on top,11-5. The Falcons stayed aggressive and gained their confidence offensively after a kill from
Jarred Sands (14-10). The Saints scored back-to-back points to gain a six-point advantage, but Messiah continued to work as a unit and began cutting down Marymount's lead. The Saints made some crucial errors late in the set and the Falcons found themselves within two points of the lead (23-21). However, after Messiah committed back-to-back errors late in the set, Marymount picked up a 25-21 win. The Falcons hit a game-high .217% after collecting 11 kills and 6 errors in the first set, but it wouldn't be enough.
Messiah had a strong start to the second set and held a 5-2 advantage after two early blocks and kills from
Matt Knab and
Jarred Sands. However, Marymount began to chip away at the lead and tied things at 6-6 with a service ace. Marymount continued to gain momentum and went on a 4-to-1 run, including two more aces, and had an 11-7 lead. Messiah battled and went on a 4-to-1 run of their own to narrow the scoring margin to one point (12-11). This run consisted of three errors from the Saints and big swing from
Noah Shreiner off of
Brad Nase's assist. Marymount sided-out with three-straight kills, but a kill from
Jarred Sands and a block from Sands and
Noah Wilson kept the Falcons in the game (17-15). Unfortunately, the Falcons committed four-straight errors, which allowed the Saints to close out the set on an 8-to-2 scoring run to secure a 25-17 victory.
Marymount came out strong in the third and final set, opening with a 4-1 lead. The Falcons scored back-to-back points including a kill from
Noah Wilson to get within one-point of Marymount, but the Saints were hitting on all cylinders and pulled ahead 16-4. Messiah pieced together three-straight points; kills from
Matt Knab and
Adam Black and a triple block from Knab,
Jarred Sands, and
Marshall Nixon but it wasn't enough to make up for the deficit. Marymount closed out the match with a 25-14 win after they hit an impressive .444 in the final game. The Falcons dropped to 0-1 on the season but will look to bounce back when they compete this weekend.
What's Up Next
Messiah has a big weekend ahead of them and they will be taking on three more top programs. The Falcons will travel down to Eastern Mennonite University on Saturday, Jan. 19 to battle No. 13 Southern Virginia University, No. 14 Elms College and the host team EMU.
