GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah men's volleyball team secured two conference wins on Saturday afternoon in Brubaker Auditorium. The Falcons had a hard fought battle against the Alvernia Golden Wolves and came away victorious in the five-set thriller (18-25, 26-28, 26-24, 25-23,16-14). Messiah continued to their winning ways as they swept King's College 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-18) in their second match of the afternoon.

Messiah moved to 12-4 overall and remains undefeated (4-0) in the Middle Atlantic Conference after the weekend. The Falcons will be back in action on Wednesday, Mar. 11 when they host Stevenson University at 7:00 p.m.

Messiah Defeats Alvernia 3-2 (18-25, 26-28, 26-24, 25-23, 16-14)
The Messiah men's volleyball team fell into an early 2-0 hole against the Alvernia Golden Wolves after dropping the first two sets of Saturday's tri-match by scores of 25-18 and 28-26. Despite being down, the Falcons rallied all the way back to claim three-straight sets by two points each to earn the 3-2 (18-25, 26-28, 26-24, 25-23, 16-14) victory to start their day.
 
It was a team effort for the Falcons with Mason Nissley (22 kills), Luke Olson (16 kills), and Noah Shreiner (13 kills) all going for double-digit kills in the first match of the day.
 
Matt Knab dished out a season-high 57 assists while Caleb Weaver collected a team-high 10 digs. As a team, Messiah collected nine service aces against none for the Golden Wolves.

The Falcons struggled offensively in the opening set hitting 0.031 and committing eight attack errors. Messiah fell to the Golden Wolves 25-18 but would look to battle back in the second set. Messiah began to pick things up offensively (.152) however still committed a few too many errors. They battled but dropped a close second set 28-26.

Things started to turn around in game three. Alvernia had a three-point lead (18-15) late in the set, however back-to-back kills from Mason Nissley brought the lead down to one (18-17). The Falcons would eventually tie things up at 23-23 after a kill from Luke Olson, but Alvernia sided out after a service error to receive game point. The Falcons didn't let up and scored three-straight points, including a block from Nate Bowman, a kill from Mason Nissley, and a block from Nissley and Noah Shreiner, to pick up the 26-24 victory.

Messiah was trailing Alvernia 16-12 in the middle of the fourth set, however a kill from Nissley sparked Messiah on a 5-to-2 run to come within one point of the lead (18-17). The Golden Wolves answered with back-to-back points to pull ahead 20-17, however Messiah continued to battle. The Falcons were trailing 23-21 at the end of the set,nonetheless they pieced together four-straight points to claim a 25-23 win and to tie the match up at 2-2. The Falcons hit a match-high of .300 in the fourth set after terminating 14 kills on 30 attempts with only five errors.

The two teams competed back-and-forth early in the fifth set, and Messiah was up 5-4. The Falcons then took off on a four-point run to gain a 9-4 lead in the middle of the set. This run included a pair of kills from Nissley and a block from Matt Knab and Nate Bowman. The Golden Wolves started to chip away at Messiah's lead and eventually tied the game up at 12-12 and then again at 14-14. Two errors from Alvernia would hand Messiah a 16-14 win to secure a 3-2 victory in the match.

Messiah Defeats King's College 3-0 (25-13, 25-13, 25-18)
The Falcons continued to find success on the court and triumphed over the King's College Monarchs in the second match of the day. Messiah took care of business in the first two sets (25-13, 25-13) and closed out the third set 25-18 to claim the sweep and their fourth-straight win.

Marshall Nixon led the Falcons with 11 kills, while Mason Nissley added 10. Nate Bowman (.429) and Matt Schaefer (.643) each added nine kills. Matt Knab carried the offense with 37 assists and also secured four service aces. Caleb Weaver was phenomenal on the defensive end and picked up 13 digs.

Nate Bowman led the way for Messiah in the opening set tallying four kills of his nine total kills. Messiah jumped out to an early 19-8 lead over King's. The Monarchs' traded points with the Falcons late in the set, however Messiah had the upper hand to secure the opening set 25-13.

Messiah hit a match-high .467 in the second set after they collected 18 kills on 30 attempts with only making four errors. King's and Messiah opened up the set exchanging points back-and-forth and the Falcons only had a one-point (7-6) lead. However, three-straight kills from Nissley, Keul, and Nixon as well as an ace from Knab, gave Messiah an 11-6 lead. Messiah continued to keep their foot on the gas, outscoring King's 14-to-7 to claim another 25-13 victory and to pull ahead 2-0 in the match.

Messiah had a comfortable 15-8 lead after scoring three-straight points in the middle of the set. King's didn't let up and scored three-consecutive points of their own to bring the Falcons' lead down to four-points (15-11). Messiah then erupted on a 6-to-1 run to pull ahead 22-12, yet the Monarchs once again responded with a 6-to-1 run of their own to come within six points of the lead (23-18). A kill by Matt Schaefer and an attack error by King's gave Messiah a 25-18 victory and a 3-0 sweep for their fourth-straight win.

Up Next
As previously mentioned, Messiah will be back in action on Wednesday, Mar. 11 when they host Stevenson University at 7:00 p.m. The Mustangs are currently 2-1 in the MAC after dropping a match to Arcadia earlier this season.