ANNVILLE, Pa. - Just days after claiming their first-ever Middle Atlantic Conference Championship, the Messiah men's volleyball team was well represented on the 2021 All-MAC Men's Volleyball Team.
Mason Nissley received the highest honor from the conference, being named the MAC Player of the Year while head coach
Justin Beachy was named the Conference Coach of the Year for the second time in his career. Nissley also earned First Team honors along with senior setter
Matt Knab. Libero
Owen Hanzelman and middle hitter
Nate Bowman also earned All-Conference honors, picking up Second Team accolades.
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Mason Nissley earns his first career All-Conference honor, picking up Player of the Year accolades after leading the Falcons, the conference, and the nation in kills per set with 5.75 through 57 sets played this year. He currently has 328 kills this season to go along with a .303 hitting percentage to lead a potent offense for the Falcons. Entering the 2021 season, only six times in program history had a Falcon finished a match with 20 or more kills. Nissley went for at least 22 kills on nine different occasions this season, including a match against Stevens with 35 kills and two efforts of 27 kills to take over the top three spots in the program record book for kills in a match. With Monday's honor, Nissley becomes the first Conference Player of the Year in Messiah men's volleyball program history.
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Setting up Nissley and the rest of the Falcons was senior setter
Matt Knab, who earns the second All-Conference honor of his career with a First Team nod this season. Knab is currently fifth in the country with a 10.32 assists per set average across 68 sets this season. On five different occasions, he picked up 50-plus assists in a match, including a career-high 59 in a five-set match against Alvernia on Mar. 24. Knab has shown his versatility throughout his career. After earning All-Conference honors as an outside hitter as a sophomore, he picks up the First Team accolades as a setter this season. He still has some swinging tendencies with 62 kills on the season and an impressive .407 hitting percentage, mostly coming off setter dumps. He's also picked up 31 aces, 87 digs, and 57 total blocks on the year.
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As mentioned,
Owen Hanzelman and
Nate Bowman picked up Second Team honors, both earning the first laurels of their careers. Hanzelman broke onto the Second Team for his defensive presence in the Falcons' back row. From his libero position, Hanzelman picked up a conference leading 191 digs so far this year and is averaging 2.69 digs per set, good for fifth in the conference and tops on the team. Bowman has had his presence felt at the net all season long. He's second on the team with 150 kills and a .382 hitting percentage, but leads the squad on the block. He's picked up 77 total blocks this year with seven solo blocks and averages 1.15 blocks per set.
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Fourth-year head coach,
Justin Beachy earned Conference Coach of the Year honors for the second time in his career. As the program's only head coach, Beachy has guided the Falcons to a better record every year in existence. This season, the Falcons have compiled an overall record of 16-2, the first MAC Championship in conference history, as well as the first berth into the NCAA Tournament.
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Messiah begins their run in the NCAA Tournament with a First-Round match against the Fontbonne Griffins next Wednesday, April 11, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. in Salem, Va. at the Salem Civic Center.
