OWINGS MILLS, Md. – The Messiah College men's volleyball team traveled to Stevenson University to take on the No. 6 Mustangs in a Middle Atlantic Conference match-up. The Falcons started the match off strong and took the first set 27-25 in a hard fought battle. However, they weren't able to maintain the momentum and dropped the match 3-1 (25-27, 25-11, 25-17, 25-15) to the Mustangs. This was Messiah's first conference loss of the season, they drop to 5-1 in the MAC and 8-5 overall. Stevenson is also 5-1 in the MAC with their win over the Falcons and they moved to 15-3 overall.

Offensively, the Falcons clipped a .114 hitting percentage in their match against the Mustangs, although in the first set they hit a game-high of .235. Will Webb and Noah Shreiner led the way offensively with 10 kills each, while Brad Nase delivered 25 assists. Caleb Weaver collected 14 digs to lead the defensive line and Matt Knab collected four blocks to defend the net. The Mustangs had an impressive night offensively hitting a .345 in the match.

Falcons Battle in Opening Set
Messiah opened with an early 4-to-1 run after three kills from Noah Shreiner, Matt Knab, and Jarred Sands, and a block from the front line. The Mustangs responded and sided-out off a kill off the right pin, but committed an error on the next point to give the Falcons a 5-2 advantage. Stevenson slowly began chipping away at Messiah's lead and took an 8-7 advantage after a service ace. The Mustangs continued to build upon their lead and pulled ahead 13-10, after back-to-back errors by the Falcons. Messiah fought and remained aggressive both on their serves and attack attempts. They narrowed the Mustangs scoring margin to just a point (19-18) after a setter dump from Brad Nase and a kill from Noah Shreiner. This forced Stevenson to call a timeout and talk things over. Messiah came out of the timeout and tied the game at 19-19 after a huge block from Matt Knab and Noah Shreiner. The Mustangs took a 21-19 lead after back-to-back points, but the Falcons were right there to tie things up (21-21) after some tough serving from Shreiner. The two teams battled back-and-forth at the end of the set and Messiah once again evened things up at 24-24 with Matt Knab on the service line. Stevenson took a 25-24 advantage after a crafty shot down the line, but the Falcons tied the game by tooling off the Mustangs' block (25-25). Messiah finished the set with a kill from Will Webb and a termination from Noah Shreiner in the middle to take the set 27-25 and to go up 1-0 over the Mustangs.

The Falcons hit a game high .265 after collecting 14 kills and only five errors and 34 attempts. Will Webb led the way for Messiah collecting four kills in the first set, while Matt Knab, Jarred Sands, and Noah Shreiner each had three.

Mustangs Take The Next Three
The Mustangs had a strong start to the second set and held an 11-3 advantage early on. Will Webb got things going for the Falcons with a kill down the line, followed by an overpass kill from Noah Shreiner which cut Stevenson's lead down to six (11-5). However, the Mustangs continued their aggressive net play and scored five-straight points to pull ahead pull ahead 16-5. Will Webb collected another kill and back-to-back aces (16-8) to generate some momentum for Messiah, yet it wouldn't be enough. Stevenson tied the match up at 1-1 after taking game two 25-11.

Noah Shreiner opened up the third set with a kill and service ace to give Messiah a 2-0 lead. Stevenson sided-out off a kill from Landon Shorts, but the Falcons responded with back-to-back points, including a kill from Webb, to pull ahead 4-1. The Mustangs started to find a rhythm and scored five-consecutive points to pull ahead 6-4.  After a service error by Stevenson, Adam Black tied things up at 6-6 with a kill on the left pin, and the two teams began to battle back-and-forth. Stevenson started to pull ahead (13-8) in the middle of the set, but another kill from Adam Black sparked the Falcons on a three-point run to come within two points of the lead, 13-11. The Mustangs answered with a 6-to-1 run to pull ahead 19-12, but Messiah was able to side-out after a kill from Marshall Nixon and a solo block at the net from Matt Knab to bring Stevenson's lead down to five. (19-14) Stevenson closed out the set 25-17 to take a 2-1 advantage in the match. Messiah collected 10 kills on 33 attempts with only six errors in the third set (.121), this was their second best offensive set of the match.

The Mustangs went on and claimed the fourth and final set 25-15. The Falcons battled and tied things up at 4-4 early in the set after back-to-back swings from Will Webb and Marshall Nixon, however the Mustangs responded on a 9-to-1 run to pull ahead 13-5. Stevenson kept their foot on the gas and held a 22-10 advantage late in the set. Messiah didn't give up and pieced together a 4-to-1 run including kills from Jared Keul and Adam Black, however it wasn't enough to take the set. Stevenson handed the Falcons their first conference match of the year, but Messiah will look to bounce back this weekend.
 
Up Next
The Falcons will travel to Glenside, PA on Saturday to take on Arcadia University in another conference battle at 1:00 p.m. The Knights (16-4, 6-0 MAC) are the only undefeated team in the MAC. Following their match against Arcadia, Messiah will take on first-year program Elizabethtown to close out the tri-match.