WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Messiah men's volleyball team remains undefeated in the MAC (5-0) after they secured two wins over Wilkes and Alvernia on Saturday. They dropped their first set against the Wilkes Colonels on Saturday morning, but rebounded to claim the next three sets for a 3-1 (17-25, 25-20, 25-20, 20-16) victory to improve to 3-0 in the MAC this season. Matt Knab led the Falcons with 16 kills in the four-set match, while Noah Shreiner and Will Webb each tallied 10 kills on the morning. Messiah returned to the court in the afternoon and defeated the Golden Wolves from Alvernia in a thrilling five-set match. The Falcons dominated in the first set, winning it 25-14. However, Alvernia came back in game two and picked up a 25-20 victory. Messiah responded and went up 2-1 after winning the third set in a close 25-23 battle, but dropped the fourth set 25-21. Messiah pulled out the 15-13 win in the fifth and final set, and moved to 8-4 overall.

Messiah defeats Wilkes – 3-1 (17-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-16)
Messiah had a slow start to the match against the Colonels, only swinging a .071 in the opening set. However, they improved each game and hit a .400 in the final set to pick up a 3-1 win. The Falcons trailed 5-2 early in the first set, however they were able to battle back and come within one-point of the lead (10-9) after a kill by Noah Shreiner and a Colonels' error. Wilkes then ran off on a 9-to-3 run to pull ahead 19-12. Messiah was able to piece together a 3-to-1 run of their own, including two kills from Noah Shreiner, however the Colonels closed out the set on a 4-to-2 run to win 25-17. The Falcons committed 10 attack errors in the first set, which allowed the Colonels to have an advantage on the scoreboard. Wilkes also hit an impressive .409 in the opening set with 10 kills and only 1 error.

Messiah trailed once again at the start of the second set, but after three-straight points from the Falcons, they pulled ahead 4-3. The Colonels went on a 6-to-2 run to regain the lead at 8-6, but Messiah scored back-to-back points to tie the set (8-8). Both teams battled throughout the middle of the set and the score was tied on eight different occasions. Messiah went on a four-point run, including kills from Will Web, Isaiah Han, and an ace by Jared Keul to take a 19-16 lead. The Falcons closed out the set on a 6-to-4 tilt to secure the second set 25-20 and tie the match up at 1-1.

The Falcons were down 9-6 early in the third set, but launched on to a 5-to-1 run to pull ahead (11-10). Noah Shreiner got this run started with a kill, followed by a termination from Matt Knab. Knab and Jarred Sands also picked up a block on the left pin, and Will Webb and Sands both connected on sets from Brad Nase to complete the run. The two squads exchanged points back-and-forth throughout the middle of the set and the score was tied at 20-20. The Falcons had a dominant finish to the set and scored five-straight points (25-20) to take a 2-1 advantage.

The fourth set was Messiah's best offensive performance of the morning. They terminated 12 swings on 25 attempts with only two errors, good for a .400 clip. The Falcons started out trailing the Colonels 8-7 but collected three-straight points to take the lead (10-8). Once again the teams played a side-out game throughout the middle of the set, but Messiah generated some momentum and collected four consecutive points to pull ahead 20-14, including a kill from Matt Knab and a block from Noah Shreiner and Brad Nase. Messiah claimed the set 25-16 to defeat Wilkes 3-1.

With this victory the Falcons moved 7-4 overall and remain undefeated (4-0) in the MAC. Messiah will take on Alvernia at 1:00 p.m. for their second match of the day.

Messiah defeats Alvernia – 3-2 (25-14, 20-25, 25-23, 21-25, 15-13)
Noah Shreiner had a career-high and led the Falcons' offense with 18 kills in their win over the Golden Wolves. Matt Knab added 17 and Jarred Sands contributed eight. Brad Nase dished out 49 assists for Messiah while Caleb Weaver picked up 14 digs in the back-row.

The Falcons hit an impressive .328 after collecting 65 kills on 134 attempts with only 21 errors. Alvernia on the other hand clipped a .281 with 56 kills, 20 errors, on 128 attempts.

The Falcons jumped out to an early 5-2 lead over Alvernia after three-consecutive kills from Matt Knab, Brad Nase, and Will Webb. The Golden Wolves continued to hang around and tied things up at 11-11 after Logan McGinley terminated for Alvernia. Messiah then went on a 14-to-3 run to close out the set 25-14. The Golden Wolves struggled to execute offensively in the first set, they had nine attacking errors and hit -.032.

The beginning of set two was very close, competitive, and both teams were exchanging points back-and-forth. Messiah had a slight 11-10 advantage when the Golden Wolves went on a 7-to-2 run to pull ahead 17-13, causing the Falcons to call a timeout. Messiah came out of the time-out edging their way back into the game, and they came close after a kill from Brad Nase (20-18). However, Alvernia finished the set with a 5-to-2 scoring run to even the match at 1-1.

The Falcons were trailing 10-6 in game three, but Matt Knab initiated at three-point run after a kill to bring the advantage down to one-point (10-9). The Golden Wolves began to pull away 13-11, but once again Messiah went on a 5-to-1 run to take a 16-14 lead in the middle of the set. The Falcons and Golden Wolves began trading points, but Messiah gained a four-point tilt after a kill from Matt Knab and an attack error by Alvernia. The Golden Wolves began slowly chipping away at the Falcons' lead and came within one-point (24-23), but a kill from Noah Shreiner finished the game and Messiah went up 2-1 in the match.

The fourth set was competitive at the beginning but the Golden Wolves grabbed a four-point lead (15-11) after a few Falcon errors. Late in the set, Messiah pieced together a three-point run after back-to-back blocks by Noah Wilson, Matt Knab, and Noah Shreiner; and a kill from Knab, but it wouldn't be enough. Alvernia scored three-straight points at the end of the set, to tie the match at 2-2.

The fifth and final set was intense and Messiah came out on top 15-13. The Falcons also hit an outstanding .467 with nine kills on 15 attempts with only two errors. Messiah had a decent 5-1 lead at the start of the set, but Alvernia fought and eventually brought that lead down to 8-6. The Falcons continued to maintain control and pulled ahead to take a four-point lead (10-6) after a kill from Noah Wilson and a ball handling error on the Golden Wolves. Once again, Alvernia was determined and came within one-point of the Falcons' lead (14-13). On match point, the Golden Wolves served in out of bounds to hand Messiah the 3-2 victory and their sixth-straight win. 

Up Next
Messiah will travel to Stevenson University on Feb. 26 to take on the Mustangs at 7:00 p.m. Stevenson is currently 4-1 in the Middle Atlantic Conference.