HARRISBURG, Pa. – The Messiah College men's volleyball team took on No. 9 Juniata College Eagles at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex on Friday evening. This match was played in conjunction with the Boys Atlantic Northeastern volleyball tournament as a special event for the club teams and fans in attendance.  Despite a solid start to the match, Messiah fell to Juniata in three-straight sets (25-22, 25-19, 25-19). The Falcons came out strong, hitting a .345 in the opening set, however dropped the tight set, 25-22. Messiah continued to battle in the next two sets, yet weren't able to seal the deal, dropping both games 25-19.

Messiah moved to 8-3 on the season and will look to rebound when they take the court tomorrow. 

Mason Nissley led the Falcons with 13 kills, while Nate Bowman and Luke Olson each added six. Matt Knab delivered 29 assists on the evening, while Caleb Weaver collected 11 digs.

Battle Of The Birds
Both teams came ready to play in the opening set of the match and there was a lot of back-and-forth action. The Falcons started with a 6-3 lead after going on a small three-point run over the Eagles. Luke Olson got this run going with a kill, followed by an overpass kill from Nate Bowman. Caleb Weaver finished the run off with a kill after a blocking error from the Eagles. Juniata sided out and went on a 3-to-0 run of their own to tie things up at 6-6. The Eagles slowly began to build upon their lead and pulled ahead 13-10.

The two teams began to trade points back-and-forth throughout the middle of the set, however after three-straight points late in the set, Juniata took at 23-18 lead. The Falcons didn't give up and went on a 4-to-1 run, including kills from Nate Bowman and Ian Parzyszek, to come within two points of the lead (24-22). This late surge wouldn't be enough and Juniata won the first set 25-22.

Mason Nissley led the Falcons in the opening set with four kills, while Nate Bowman and Luke Olson each added three. As a team, Messiah hit a game high of .323 in the opening set with 15 kills on 31 attempts, committing only five errors.

Falcons Struggle Early, Late Push Not Enough
Juniata opened the set with a 7-2 lead over Messiah, however the Falcons pieced together a 4-to-2 run to get back in the game and bring the Eagles' lead down to just three (9-6). Messiah started to make some unforced errors which allowed Juniata to go on a 5-to-1 scoring spurt to gain a seven-point advantage (14-7). The Eagles continued with the momentum and built their lead up to 20-11.

Despite trailing nine points, the Falcons continue to show resilience and scored four-straight points to bring the scoring margin back down to five (20-15). Mason Nissley collected three of these four Falcon points after terminating on the left pin. Once again, the late battle wasn't enough and the Eagles closed out the set 25-19 and moving ahead 2-0 in the match.

Messiah Falls To No. 9 Juniata
The Falcons found themselves in a rut early in the third set (4-1), however with Adam Black on the service line Messiah was able to battle back and tie the game at 5-5. The Falcons then grabbed their first lead of the set (7-6) after back-to-back kills from Luke Olson and Will Webb.

The Eagles regained momentum and pulled ahead 11-7 after a five-point run. However, Messiah was able to go on a 4-to-2 run of their own to come within two points of the lead (13-11). Juniata remained steady on the attack, hitting an incredible .524 in game three, and pulled ahead 21-16. Once again, the Falcons showed some fight late in the set and went on a 3-to-1 run to come within three points of the lead (22-19). Nonetheless, Juniata closed out the set with three-straight points to grab a 25-19 victory and a 3-0 sweep over Messiah.  

Up Next
The Falcons will look to respond Saturday, Feb. 22 when they return to Jordan Court. Messiah will be hosting Southern Virginia University (1:00 p.m.) and Penn State Behrend (5:00 p.m.) in a home tri-match. The two opposing teams will play a neutral site match at 3:00 p.m.