GRANTHAM, Pa. - The Messiah men's volleyball team continued their stellar play with a 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, 25-16) sweep of the King's Monarchs on Tuesday night. Once again, the Falcons were efficient with their swings, hitting at a .587 clip on the evening. Nate Bowman led the Falcons with eight kills on eight swings with a 1.000 hitting percentage, he becomes the first player in program history with a perfect hitting percentage with at least eight kills.
 
Messiah's .587 hitting percentage is the second-highest mark in a single match in program history, falling just shy of last Thursday's match with Immaculata when the Falcons hit .685. Prior to the last week, Messiah had never hit north of .441 in a single match in program history.
 
Mason Nissley finished the evening with a match-high 11 kills and a .500 hitting percentage while Matt Knab dished out 34 assists and collected three aces.
 
With the victory, Messiah improves to 4-3 on the season and starts the conference season with a 1-0 record. The Falcons are back in action on Friday when they host Geneva in a non-conference match at 7:30 p.m. on Jordan Court in Hitchcock Arena.
 
How It Happened
The Falcons put their foot on the accelerator and never looked back cruising to a 3-0 sweep of the King's Monarchs on Tuesday. Messiah picked up right where they left off last week, hitting .619 in the opening set and finishing the night with a .587 hitting percentage with 44 kills and just seven errors.
 
Messiah opened the match on a 9-4 run, picking up kills from four different Falcons including two each from Nate Bowman and Conner Stauffer. With the use of a 9-1 run later in the set, Messiah took a commanding 20-8 lead after a kill from Mason Nissley. The Falcons took advantage of some late errors by the Monarchs to win the set 25-13.
 
The second set started very similar, three kills from Nate Bowman and three-straight service aces from Matt Knab built the Falcons an 11-4 lead early in the set. The Monarchs hung around a little bit, pulling within three at 18-15. Messiah however, ripped off a 7-1 run to close out the set by a 25-16 final and take a 2-0 lead. A big block from Conner Stauffer, Adam Casper, and Matt Knab capped off the run and closed out the set.
 
In the third, the Falcons held a 12-9 lead midway through the set. A kill from Ryan Givens sparked a 10-2 run that put some separation between the Falcons and Monarchs. Three-straight Messiah blocks highlighted the stretch for the home team as the Falcons took a 22-11 lead.
 
The Falcons closed out the set by a score of 25-16 to earn the 3-0 sweep in their first conference match of the season.
 
In the Box Score
Three Falcons finished with perfect, 1.000 hitting percentages on Tuesday night. Led by Nate Bowman and his eight kills, Ryan Givens (seven kills) and Luke Olson (five kills) put up perfect marks on the evening. As a team, Messiah held the Monarchs to a .068 hitting percentage while swinging at the second-highest mark in program history at .587.
 
The Falcons finished with 44 kills on 63 total attempts and just seven errors. Mason Nissley led the Falcons with a match-high 11 kills.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons will host Geneva on Friday night in a non-conference match on Jordan Court in Hitchcock Arena. The action is set to begin at 7:30 p.m.