GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Messiah men's volleyball team concluded its 2021 regular season slate with a doubleheader sweep over visiting Wilkes University, claiming Match One, 3-1 (25-14, 16-25, 25-19, 25-17), and completing the sweep in the second match, 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-13) on Saturday afternoon in Hitchcock Arena. Nate Bowman led the attacking on the day, combining for 14 kills, registering seven in each match. Matt Knab recorded team-high assists in both matches (27, 29), upping his season total to a conference-leading 608 assists.
 
Match One
The Falcons got off to a fast start, earning the game one win, 25-14. Messiah registered 14 kills on the set, highlighted by four kills each from Nate Bowman and Parzyszek. Messiah took advantage of eight attacking errors from the Colonels, swinging at a .269 clip,
 
Ahead, 1-0, the Falcons trailed by as many as nine in the second set. Behind, 16-12, Zac Barbato hammered down a swing to cut the deficit to three. The Colonels prevailed, winning the game, 25-16, to level the match at 1-1. Despite Bowman and Noah Wilson leading all attackers with five kills each, Wilkes swung an impressive .412 during the set.
 
The third set proved to be tightly-contested as the two sides traded punches throughout. The Falcons led, 16-14, before a service ace from Knab gave the Falcons a three-point edge. Messiah ended the set on a 4-1 scoring run, highlighted by two successful swings from Parzyszek.
 
Bowman began the fourth set with a mammoth swing, giving the Falcons a prompt 1-0 edge. Jared Keul notched his fifth kill of the match to spark a 3-0 scoring run for the Falcons, as they increased their lead to 6-3. Two-straight service aces from Knab bolstered Messiah's advantage to 11-6. A dual block from Bowman and Knab to deny Wilkes' Noah Taylor made it 19-14 in favor of the Falcons, as Messiah closed out the decisive set, 25-17, behind a Colonel service error.
 
Wilson recorded a season-high seven kills in the win, as two-time MAC Defensive Player of the Week Owen Hanzelman had a match-high 12 digs.
 
The Match One victory gave Messiah its 13th win of the season ahead of the second match of the doubleheader.
 
Match Two
The Falcons breezed through the second match of the doubleheader. Jumping out to a 12-7 advantage in the first set behind two kills from Keul, Messiah used a 5-2 scoring spurt to lead the Colonels, 17-10. Four-consecutive points for the Falcons increased that lead to 24-14, highlighted by a kill from Noah Wilson, his first of five successful swings in the match. A service error from Wilkes' Casey Shipman sealed the first set for the Falcons, 25-16.
 
Leading, 1-0, Messiah cruised to a 5-1 early edge behind kills from Wilson and Bowman. Matt Schaeffer found his way on the stat sheet with a kill, the second point of a 3-0 scoring run that increased the Falcons' lead to 11-4. Marshall Nixon was responsible for three of Messiah's next four points, contributing successful swings for half of his total kills of the match. A service ace from Jonah Steiner gave Messiah an 18-7 lead, before the Colonels rattled off four-straight points to cut their deficit to eight points. The Falcons closed out the set, 25-15, behind three-straight points, including a kill and a service ace from Barbato. On the set, Messiah recorded a .407 swing percentage to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.
 
The third and decisive set began with consecutive points from Wilkes before the Falcons went on a dominant 10-0 run, claiming a 10-2 lead. During the run, three different Falcons contributed kills (Knab, Bowman, Wilson), coupled with Colonel mishaps. Messiah never looked back in the set, as a 5-0 scoring run later in the set gave the Falcons a 17-5 lead. The Wilkes errors continued to pile on, as Messiah took advantage of four errors from the Colonels for their final four points to clinch the set, 25-13, sweeping Match Two, 3-0.
 
Throughout the second match, the Falcons converted a total of seven service aces between five different players. Messiah had seven different players record at least three kills, as Hanzelman recorded a match-high 14 digs.
 
The Match Two win improved Messiah's record to 14-2 as the Falcons will be the #1 seed in this week's MAC Tournament.
 
What's Next
#1 Messiah will host the winner of Alvernia-Arcadia (Apr. 5) in the MAC Championship Semifinals in Hitchcock Arena on Wednesday, Apr. 7, at 7:00 p.m.