GLENSIDE, Pa. – The Messiah College men's volleyball team traveled to Glenside, PA to take on the No. 13 Arcadia Knights and the Elizabethtown Blue Jays in a tri-match on Saturday afternoon. The Falcons started the day facing Arcadia in a Middle Atlantic Conference matchup and fell to the Knights 3-1 (22-25, 25-15, 25-14, 25-15). In the second match of the day, the Falcons soared to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-17) victory over the Blue Jays. Messiah moved to 9-6 overall after their matches on Saturday afternoon and will be back in action on Mar. 6 when they host Wilson College at 7:00 p.m.

Match One: Messiah College 1, Arcadia University 3
Messiah had a strong start to the first set opening with a 4-2 advantage over Arcadia. The Knights scored back-to-back points to tie the set up at 4-4, however the Falcons took off on a three-point run to pull ahead 7-4. Messiah continued to take advantage of the Knights' errors and pulled ahead 14-9 causing Arcadia to take a timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Arcadia started to chip away at the Falcons' lead and came within one-point (18-17). Messiah called a quick timeout to regroup and came out scoring back-to-back points, including an ace from Marshall Nixon to pull ahead 20-17. The teams exchanged points and Messiah took a 22-18 advantage after Will Webb collected an ace of his own. Arcadia sided-out after an error by Messiah, but the Falcons were able to get their serve back after a setter dump from Brad Nase (23-19). The Falcons pulled ahead 24-20, but the Knights scored on back-to-back points to keep the game close. However, Messiah closed the game out with a kill from Will Webb (25-22) to take a 1-0 advantage in the match. Noah Shreiner led Messiah with three kills and the Falcons collected three aces as a team.

Falcons started off with a block from Noah Shreiner and two kills from Adam Black and Will Webb to pull ahead 3-0 at the start of the second set. Arcadia sided-out on an 8-to-1 run to take an 8-4 advantage over the Falcons. Messiah called a timeout and came out with back-to-back points to narrow Arcadia's lead to two points (8-6), however the Knights continued to build their lead with four-straight points (12-6). Messiah ended the run with a tool of the block from Noah Shreiner (12-7) but then committed a service error to give the ball back to the Knights. The two teams battled throughout the middle of the set, but Arcadia took a 20-13 lead after back-to-back errors from Messiah. Noah Shreiner connected on a set from Brad Nase to bring the score to 20-14, however Arcadia closed out the set on a 5-to-1 run (25-15) to tie the match at 1-1.

Messiah took a 5-3 advantage early in the third set after three-consecutive points, including another kill from Noah Shreiner and back-to-back errors from Arcadia. The two teams began trading points and the Knights scored on back-to-back plays to tie the game at 7-7. Both teams traded service errors to keep the scored tied at 8-8, but then Arcadia generated some momentum. The Knights went on a 12-to-3 run and pulled ahead 20-11. The Falcons were able to score consecutive points after a kill from Brad Nase and an error from the Knights (20-13), but Arcadia closed out the set 25-14 to take a 2-1 lead going into the fourth set.

Messiah trailed (8-4) early in the set, but scored three-straight points to pull within one-point of the lead, 8-7. The Knights then went on a 4-to-1 run to pull ahead 12-8, but the Falcons continued to battle and came within two points of the lead (13-11) after an ace from Will Webb. Arcadia finished the game outscoring Messiah 12-to-4 to claim the set 25-15.  

Will Webb led the way for Messiah with 10 kills, while Noah Shreiner added eight. Brad Nase dished out 27 assists and Caleb Weaver picked up 10 digs.

Match Two: Messiah College 3, Elizabethtown College 0
Messiah bounced back in their second match of the day and swept Elizabethtown 3-0 (25-19, 25-13, 25-17). Adam Black led the Falcons offensively with 13 kills, Mason Nixon added nine, and Noah Shreiner contributed eight. Brad Nase delivered 19 assists and Caleb Weaver took care of business in the back row with a career-high of 22 digs. As a team, the Falcons hit a .337 (43 kills, 10 errors, 98 attempts) which was their second best team attacking percentage on the season so far. 

The first set started with some back-and-forth play and Messiah only had a one-point lead (10-9). However, Messiah's offense started to kick in and they tallied five-straight kills from Will Webb, Noah Wilson, Noah Shreiner, and Brad Nase to pull ahead 15-9. The Blue Jays continued to fight and responded on an 8-to-3 run to bring Messiah's lead down to one-point (18-17), but Messiah picked up four-straight points, including back-to-back kills from Will Webb to pull ahead 22-17. Elizabethtown collected two points at the end of the set, but Messiah closed out with a kill from Marshall Nixon and a 25-19 victory.

The Falcons dominated in the second set and defeated the Blue Jays 25-13. Elizabethtown struggled offensively and gave up eight points on attack errors, hitting only a .000. Messiah held a 13-4 advantage early in the set after scoring eight-straight points with Brad Nase on the service line, six of the eight points were off of Elizabethtown errors. The teams began exchanging points back-and-forth, but once again the Falcons launched off to a 7-to-2 run at the end of the set to secure the 25-13 win and to go up 2-0 in the match.

Messiah hit an impressive .387 in the final set, collecting 15 kills on 31 attempts with only three errors. Adam Black led the Falcons and terminated eight of his 13 kills in the third game for Messiah. Although the Falcons jumped out to an early 7-4 lead, Elizabethtown started to battle and went on a 7-to-3 run to pull ahead 11-10. The Falcons answered with three-straight points, including two kills from Marshall Nixon to regain the lead (13-11). However, three errors from Messiah put Elizabethtown back on top 14-13. The Falcons gained some momentum and cruised to a 12-to-3 run to clinched the third game 25-17 and sweep the Blue Jays 3-0. Adam Black finished the set scoring Messiah's final six points, including five-straight kills and a service ace on match point.

Up Next
Messiah will return to Jordan Court this Wednesday, Mar. 6 to take on non-conference opponent Wilson College at 7:00 p.m. Messiah will then travel to Rutgers Newark on Mar. 9 for a tri-match with Bard College.