BEREA, Ohio – It looked for a moment like the Messiah men's volleyball team might let a chance at a top-20 victory slip through their grasps. On Friday night, the Messiah Falcons headed west to take on the No. 19 Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets to begin the Baldwin Wallace Tournament. The Falcons took the first two set by scores of 28-26 and 25-23 before holding a lead of 22-18 late in the third set. Needed just three more points to pull off a sweep of a nationally-ranked opponent, the Falcons faltered. Baldwin Wallace claimed seven of the next eight points to take the set and extend the match.
 
In the fourth, the Yellow Jackets took control, running out to a 15-11 lead and eventually winning the set 25-19. Feeling the opportunity slipping through their grasp, Messiah regrouped and finished the match strong. The Falcons took the third set 15-12 to earn an exciting five-set victory by at 3-2 (28-26, 25-20, 23-25, 19-25, 15-12) victory to kick off their weekend.
 
Ryan Givens and Alex Kagoro were fantastic in the match, both setting career highs for kills in a match and finishing with 20 and 16 kills, respectively. Both hit well north of .400 with Givens finishing with 20 kills and a .487 hitting percentage and Kagoro notching 16 kills while swinging at a .444 clip.
 
The victory moves the Falcons to 6-4 on the season. Messiah will conclude their weekend in Ohio on Saturday with matches against No. 10 North Central at 12:00 p.m. and No. 9 Nazareth at 2:30 p.m.
 
Inside the Box Score
The Falcons used stellar hitting percentages to take the first two sets, swinging at .364 in the opening set and .393 in the second set to build a 2-0 lead. On the night, Messiah hit at a .280 mark while holding the Yellow Jackets to a .258 percentage despite attempting over 30 more attacks than the Falcons (163-132).
 
Messiah also limited their service errors on the night. Across the five sets, Messiah committed just 10 service errors, their second fewest in a match this year.
 
Offensively, four of their five players to attempt at least a dozen swings in the match recorded hitting percentages north of .275. Ryan Givens and Alex Kagoro highlighted the offensive effort with 20 and 16 kills each while both hitting higher than .440 in the match.
 
What's Up Next
As mentioned, the Falcons with face a pair of stiff tests tomorrow with two teams ranked in the top-10 as their foes. First up it is No. 10 North Central at noon while a match with No. 9 Nazareth will follow at 2:30 p.m.