GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Messiah College men's volleyball team returned to Jordan Court on Wednesday evening when they hosted Wilson College. The Falcons defeated the Phoenix 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 37-35), moved to 10-6 on the season. With this win, Messiah also remains undefeated on Jordan Court (4-0). The Falcons had a strong start to the match winning the first two sets 25-18. However, Wilson picked up their fight in the third set and made it one for the record books. Noah Wilson closed out the third set 37-35 with a kill to give Messiah the clean sweep. This was the longest set in Messiah men's volleyball history, the next longest occurred on April 7th, 2018 when Messiah defeated Misericordia 32-30 in the second set.

The Falcons had a lot of contributors on the stat sheet in their sweep over the Phoenix. Will Webb led the way with a career-high of 11 kills, while Adam Black collected nine. Marshall Nixon and Noah Wilson both terminated eight kills apiece, while Brad Nase and Jared Keul ran the offense with 26 and 16 assists, respectively. Caleb Weaver took care of the back row and collected 12 digs, while Marshall Nixon stuffed six blocks on the front line.

Fiery Start For Falcons
The Falcons were efficient on offense in the opening set. They collected 13 kills on 23 swings with only committing one error for a .522 hitting percentage. Will Webb and Noah Shreiner led the way for Messiah in the first set with four kills apiece.

Messiah jumped out to a hot start and held a 4-1 lead over Wilson, however the Phoenix pieced together a 3-to-1 run to come within one-point (5-4) of the lead. The Falcons responded with back-to-back kills from Noah Shreiner and Adam black which ignited Messiah on a 7-to-2 scoring spree, to pull ahead 12-6. The Phoenix collected two-straight points to cut the Falcons' lead down to four, however Messiah once again took off on a 4-to-1 run to bring the score up to 16-9. Later in the set, Messiah terminated three-straight kills, one from Jared Keul and two from Will Webb to bring their advantage to 22-14, however the Phoenix responded with two-consecutive points to narrow the margin to six. Jared Keul picked up his second kill followed by a block from Will Webb and Marshall Nixon to give Messiah game point (24-16) and they closed out the set 25-18 after an attack error by Wilson College.

Messiah Keeps Foot On The Gas
Much like game one, Messiah started off with a 5-1 lead over Wilson. Each of those five points were earned and came off of kills from Will Webb, Mason McCullough, Adam Black, and Noah Wilson, with Brad Nase picking up four assists. The two teams started to exchange points back-and-forth but after a kill from the Phoenix and three-straight attack errors from Messiah, Wilson College came within one-point of the lead (9-8). The Falcons responded on a 5-to-2 run, including kills from Adam Black, Caleb Weaver, Mason McCullough and Will Webb, to pull ahead 14-10. Once again, the teams began playing some side-out volleyball and trading points back-and-forth throughout the middle of the set. Wilson College started to find some momentum late in the set and scored three-straight points two bring Messiah's lead down to 20-18. However, the Falcons closed out the set with five-consecutive points of their own, including three kills from Will Webb, to claim a 25-18 win and to take a 2-0 advantage going into the third set.

Longest Set in Program History
Although the Phoenix brought a lot of fight and determination into the third and final set, Messiah clinched the set 37-35 off of a kill from Noah Wilson. As previously mentioned, this was the longest set in program history and the score was tied 27 different times in the entire set.

Wilson College opened up game three with a 3-1 lead after some early errors by Messiah. The Falcons battled and eventually tied things up at 7-7 after a kill from Noah Wilson and a block from Marshall Nixon. This is where the side-out battled began and the score was tied at 8-8, 9-9, 10-10, and 11-11. The Phoenix then collected back-to-back points to pull ahead (13-11), however Messiah tied things up after Wilson's service error and a kill by Derek Siewert. Once again, the teams began siding out back-and-forth until Messiah scored back-to-back points to take a 23-21 advantage. However, Wilson College scored two-straight points to tie things up again at 23-23. Both teams battled and maintained a side-out mentality throughout the remainder of the game. The Falcons received match-point on six different occasions before securing the victory at 37-35. The Phoenix also had game-point at six different times in the third set, but were unable to capitalize.

Up Next
The Falcons will travel to Newark, NJ this weekend as they compete in a tri-match at Rutgers-Newark. Messiah will take on Bard College at 1:00 p.m. and will turn around to face the home team at 3:00 p.m. The Falcons will return to Jordan Court on Mar. 13 when they host Penn State Altoona at 7:00 p.m.