GRANTHAM, Pa. – The No. 9 Messiah Men's Volleyball team swept Elizabethtown College at home on Wednesday, Feb. 19 with set scores of 25-14, 25-17, 25-15. Tyler McConnell and Todd Snyder led all players with seven kills while Alex Kagoro added six.

The Falcons will return to Jordan Court in Hitchcock Arena on Saturday, Feb. 22 when they host the Eastern University Eagles and the Randolph College Wildcats for a tri-match. The Falcons and Eagles will square off at 11:00 a.m. and then Falcons will take on the Wildcats at 3:00 p.m.

Set One
The Falcons started the scoring when Brandon Sharp connected with Jacob Hamm for the first point of the set. Elizabethtown scored the next two before Messiah scored four straight with a kill from Todd Snyder and an ace from Alex Kagoro. Sharp connected with Tyler McConnell for a kill before a service error by the Blue Jays and an ace from McConnell gave the Falcons a 9-5 lead. A pair of kills by Kagoro and an error by Elizabethtown extended the lead to 12-6. Kagoro added another kill to split a pair of Blue Jays errors that brought the score to 15-7. A kill by the Blue Jays was followed by a pair of kills for the Falcons by Jacob Hamm and Snyder as the lead grew to 17-8. The Blue Jays scored a pair before a kill by McConnell. Messiah then scored four straight with a kill by Ryan Givens, a kill by McConnell on an overpass and a kill by McConnell from Sharp to take a 22-11 lead. Elizabethtown scored three straight before the Falcons answered with three of their own on a kill by Givens and a pair of aces from McConnell to take the set 25-14.

Set Two
Messiah started set two with three straight on a kill by Alex Kagoro, an error from the Blue Jays, and a block by Todd Snyder and Kagoro. The score was 8-7 in favor of the Falcons after several errors on both sides of the net. Messiah then scored six straight with a block by Snyder and Brandon Sharp, a pair of aces for Ryan Givens, and a kill by Kagoro to extend their lead to 14-7. McConnell and Jacob Hamm each notched kills as the score came to 17-9. The teams again traded errors as the score moved to 23-15 in favor of the Falcons. A kill by Snyder brought the score to 24-16 in favor of the Falcons before Sharp connected with Kagoro for a kill to take set two 25-17 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.

Set Three
After Elizabethtown notched the first point of the match, Brandon Sharp connected with Jacob Hamm and Todd Snyder for kills and an error for the Blue Jays brought the score to 3-1 in favor of the Falcons. Messiah scored three straight with kills by Todd Snyder and Tyler McConnell as the score moved to 6-2. Ryan Givens added a kill before Brandon Sharp had a skip set kill to bring the lead to 8-3. The Falcons scored six straight as Ryan Givens notched a pair of service aces followed by a kill for Todd Snyder. Messiah then brought in Lucas Plumey to serve as Sharp and Snyder combined for a block followed by a Blue Jays error to bring the score to 15-5 in favor of Messiah. Tyler McConnell connected with Jacob Hamm for a kill before Sharp connected with Snyder to bring the score to 18-9. McConnell and Jake Eby combined for a block before Brandon Sharp notched a kill to bring the lead to 20-10. Elizabethtown scored a pair before McConnell notched another kill. The Blue Jays again added a pair before a service error for Elizabethtown and an ace for Jake Eby brought the Falcons lead to 23-14. The Blue Jays secured one final kill before committing an error followed by a Brayden Parks kill to take set three 25-15, earning Messiah the 3-0 sweep in the match.

Stats
Tyler McConnell and Todd Snyder led the Falcons with seven kills each while Alex Kagoro added six. Brandon Sharp had 25 assists. Ryan Givens notched four service aces while McConnell added three. Conner Stauffer, Alex Kagoro, and Tyler McConnell all had five digs.

Up Next
The Falcons will return to Jordan Court in Hitchcock Arena on Saturday, Feb. 22 when they host the Eastern University Eagles and the Randolph College Wildcats for a tri-match. The Falcons and Eagles will square off at 11:00 a.m. and then Falcons will take on the Wildcats