GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah men's volleyball team started a lengthy home-stretch with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 25-19) victory over the Wilkes Colonels in a conference game on Friday night. Messiah controlled the match from start to finish with Matt Knab leading the Falcons with 11 kills in the match, while also collecting a team-high six digs. Brad Nase dished out 31 assists to lead all players in the match.
 
Messiah moves to 12-7 overall with the victory and improves to 6-2 in the conference. The Falcons are back in action tomorrow afternoon when they host a tri-match against Widener and Randolph-Macon, beginning at 1:00 p.m.
 
Knab's Early Domination
After the Falcons trailed 7-4, Messiah went on an 8-1 stretch with Will Web (two kills) and Knab (one) leading the offense. With Messiah leading 12-8, Wilkes called a timeout. After the break, the Colonels responded with a 4-2 run of their own that featured a Mark Piotrowski kill and three Messiah attack errors, cutting the deficit to 14-12.
 
Led by Knab's three kills, the Falcons took control with a 11-5 run, closing the first set out with a 25-17 win. The Falcons recorded a .233 hitting percentage in the first set, putting down 13 kills as a team. Knab led the way, picking up a team-high five kills.
 
Falcons and Colonels Traded Blows in Second Set
The second set started with six lead changes, before Messiah changed the momentum with a Noah Shreiner kill that tied the set at 12-12. The game remained tied four points later at 14-14, following a pair of Colonels' errors and kills from Wilkes' Cole Hefner and Andrew Potter.
 
Messiah rattled off seven-straight points to carve out an 21-14 advantage. The game-changing streak was started by a pair of kills from Knab, before Messiah took advantage of five straight attacking errors by Wilkes. Ahead by seven points, the Colonels cut the margin down to five at 21-16, but the Falcons did not give up the momentum. Messiah captured four of the final five points, with Knab collecting the final kill of the set.
 
The Falcons kept the same attack presence in the second set compared to the first, recording the same amount of kills of 13. Wilkes lost its composure in the second set with nine total errors in the game. Through two sets, Knab had already picked up nine kills while Will Webb brought in seven. Messiah had their highest hitting percentage of the game in the second set with a .333 mark.
 
Messiah's Final Thump
Including big spike by Noah Shreiner, who finished the night with eight kills, Messiah took control early in the third set early with a 6-1 lead. Both teams traded three-point blows, putting the Falcons up 9-4 before Wilkes called a timeout to strategize.
 
The timeout did little to slow down the Falcons, as Messiah kept the pressure on with a 6-4 push, extending the lead to 15-8. A four-point run for Wilkes cut the deficit down to 15-12, but that was as close as they would get.
 
After the two sides traded kills, Will Webb took advantage of an overpass and hammered home the kill, giving Messiah a 17-13 lead. Wilkes tried to create a run, but errors on the attack denied the push. Four of Messiah's final seven points came on attacking errors from Wilkes.
 
The Falcons closed the match in dominate fashion with a Marshall Nixon spike from Brad Nase, earning Messiah the 25-19 third set victory and the 3-0 sweep in the match. Messiah finished the game with 11 team blocks and Nase dished out a game-high 31 assists in the match.

What's Up Next
The Falcons will host a tri-match on Saturday afternoon when Randolph-Macon and Widener come to town. Messiah will take on the Yellow Jackets in the first match of the day at 1:00 p.m. before capping off the evening with a conference match against the Pride at 5:00 p.m.