WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The No. 5 Messiah men's volleyball team earned a 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-20) sweep over the King's Monarchs in their first match in two weeks. Matt Knab collected a career-high eight service aces in the match, crossing the 200-ace plateau in the process. Knab becomes just the 11th player in Division III men's volleyball history with 200 career service aces.
 
Alex Kagoro and Mason Nissley led the offense with 11 kills each, hitting at .563 and .350, respectively. In addition to his eight aces, Knab dished out 34 assists as the Falcons hit .389 as a team in the match.
 
With the victory, Messiah improves to 17-2 on the season and 2-0 in the conference while running their winning streak to 10 matches.
 
How It Happened
The Falcons used three separate runs in the opening set to pull away from the Monarchs. After trailing 2-0 to start the match, Messiah rattled off five-straight points to take a 5-2 lead. A kill from Nate Bowman and a pair of aces from Mason Nissley fueled the early stretch. After King's closed the set to a one-point game at 7-6, Messiah ripped off four-straight points to take an 11-6 lead. Just a few points later, a 6-0 run took the Falcons from a two-point advantage to a sizable 19-11 cushion. Four different Falcons earned kills in the run as the Falcons would go on for the 25-19 set one victory.
 
The second set opened up very similarly to the first with Messiah leading by just two midway through the set at 15-13. Six-straight Messiah points put the Falcons up 21-13 and kicked off a 10-2 run that ended the set and gave Messiah the set 25-15 and handed the visitors a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
Matt Knab stole the show in the third set, earning five-straight service aces as part of Messiah's third 6-0 run of the night. With the Falcons leading 10-8 after a Nate Bowman kill, Knab headed to the service line where five-straight aces took the Falcons lead up to seven at 15-8. After the impressive run, the Monarchs were unable to pull within four for the remainder of the set as Messiah claimed the set, 25-20, and the match, 3-0.
 
What's Up Next
The Falcons will be back in action next Wednesday when they head to Widener University to take on the Pride at 7:00 p.m. in Chester, Pa. The Pride are 11-10 on the season and 0-4 in the conference.