FREDERICK, Md. – The No. 9 Messiah Men's Volleyball team earned a sweep on Thursday night against conference opponent Hood College. The Falcons won behind set scores of 25-18, 25-19, and 25-17. Brayden Parks and Jake Eby each had eight kills for the Falcons with Ethan Earhart and Sean Gillespie each adding seven.

Messiah is next in action on Saturday, March 1, when they travel to Harrisonburg, Va. for the EMU Tri-Match. The Falcons will take on Drew University at 3:00 p.m. and Eastern Mennonite at 5:00 p.m.

Set One
The Falcons started with a 4-0 run behind kills from Ethan Earhart, Sean Gillespie, and Brayden Parks. Earhart and Gillespie then combined for a block, bringing the score to 5-1 in favor of the Falcons. Jonathan Nixon connected with Parks and Jake Eby to bring the Messiah lead to 8-3. After a number of errors on both sides of the net, Messiah strung together three points behind kills by Earhart and Parks and an error for the Blazers to bring the score to 15-7 in favor of Messiah. After an 18-11 Messiah lead, Hood scored six straight to bring the deficit to one. Nixon connected with Eby for a kill before Ethan Espenshade had back-to-back service aces to regain the lead 22-17. Out of a Hood timeout, Jake Eby and Jonathan Nixon combined for a block before Espenshade picked up another service ace. The teams traded service errors and Messiah took set one 25-18.

Set Two
Messiah again started with a 4-0 run, this time with kills from Brayden Parks, Ethan Espenshade, and Ethan Earhart before a block from Parks. Hood strung together three points, cutting the Messiah lead to 5-4. A service error by the Blazers and a block by Jake Eby gave the Falcons a 7-4 lead. The teams traded the next few points before the Falcons scored four straight that included a pair of kills for Sean Gillespie and a block for Jonathan Nixon. The Falcons extended their lead as Nixon connected with Earhart for a kill and Gillespie connected with Espenshade to give the Falcons a 17-11 lead. Brayden Parks added a pair of kills as an error by the Blazers gave Messiah a 20-14 lead. The teams traded points through the end of the set, including a block for Seth Rajnic, two kills for Gillespie, and a kill by Ethan Espenshade to end the set 25-19 in favor of the Falcons.

Set Three
After giving up the first point of the set, Messiah scored the next four after two errors by the Blazers and kills by Sean Gillespie and Ethan Earhart. Jonathan Nixon again connected with Earhart before the team traded errors, bringing the score to 8-5 in favor of Messiah. Jake Eby notched a kill before a pair of points for the Blazers. It was again Nixon finding Eby as the Falcons took a 10-7 lead. The teams then traded pairs of points as Eby registered a kill followed by a block for Gillespie and Earhart. A service error for Hood followed by a service ace for Nixon brought the Messiah lead to 14-11. Hood was able to notch the score at 15-15 before Messiah scored five straight to regain control of the set. Earhart and Eby contributed kills, Espenshade added a solo block, and Earhart added a service ace, causing Hood to call a timeout. Out of the timeout, Hood scored a point before Nixon connected with Seth Rajnic for a kill for the Falcons. A Messiah service error brought the score to 21-17 in favor of the Falcons, who then scored four straight to take set three 25-17 and the match 3-0. Ethan Espenshade notched a kill before an error from the Blazers. Jake Eby ended the set with a pair of kills.

Stats
Brayden Parks and Jake Eby lead the Falcons with eight kills each, while Ethan Earhart and Sean Gillespie each added seven. Jonathan Nixon led all players with 32 assists while Ethan Espenshade notched three service aces. Seth Graybill had a match-high nine digs.

Up Next
Messiah is next in action on Saturday, March 1, when they travel to Harrisonburg, Va. for the EMU Tri-Match. The Falcons will take on Drew University at 3:00 p.m. and Eastern Mennonite at 5:00 p.m.