GRANTHAM, Pa. – The No. 2 Messiah Men's Volleyball team earned the 3-0 sweep Wednesday night over King's College behind set scores of 25-6, 25-19, and 25-17. The six points allowed in the first set are the fewest in program history. Also making history in the first set was Senior Outside Hitter Alex Kagoro notching his 1000th career kill at Messiah, just the second Falcon to reach the milestone in program history.

The Falcons return to action on Saturday, March 21 at 1:00 p.m. when they travel to Hoboken, N.J. to take on the No. 5 Ducks of Stevens in a national top-five showdown and MAC battle.

First Set
The Falcons took a 10-0 lead to open the night, with a kill from Tyler McConnell, three kills from Alex Kagoro, a service ace from Brandon Sharp, a pair of solo blocks for Todd Snyder and a block for Kagoro and Snyder. After a kill for the Monarchs, Sharp connected with Kagoro for a kill before McConnell connected with Sean Gillespie for a kill. A kill for Alex Kagoro brought the score to 13-1, with Kagoro tallying his 1000th kill as a Messiah Falcon. A pair of kills from Jake Eby and a kill for Gillespie brought the score to 18-4. A kill for Kagoro and a block from Brandon Sharp and Todd Snyder extended the lead to 22-5. After a kill for King's, a pair of kills for Tyler McConnell gave the Falcons the 25-6 win and 1-0 match lead.

Second Set
The Falcons took a 2-1 lead with a kill for Sean Gillespie from Cooper Henseler before King's took a 5-3 lead. Connor Himelfarb tallied a kill, and Everett Macurda notched a service ace to tie it 5-5. A kill from Himelfarb and a block from Gillespie and Seth Rajnic notched the score 7-7 before Messiah took a 10-8 lead with a kill from Gillespie and a service ace from Adam McGarvey. Sean Gillespie tallied a kill before the Monarchs took a 13-11 lead. A kill from Connor Himelfarb and a pair of errors for the Monarchs gave Messiah the 14-13 lead. Seth Rajnic and Connor Himelfarb notched a block before Ethan Espenshade tallied a kill to give the Falcons an 18-15 lead. Cooper Henseler connected with Rajnic and Himelfarb for kills to take a 20-16 lead. A kill and service ace from Connor Himelfarb gave Messiah a 22-17 lead before a kill from Sean Gillespie extended the lead to 23-18. A Monarchs' service error and kill from Everett Macurda gave the Falcons the 25-19 win in set two and the 2-0 match lead.

Third Set
Cooper Henseler found Connor Himelfarb for a kill for the first point of set three. Three errors from the Monarchs gave Messiah a 4-3 lead before the Falcons scored three straight that included a kill from Seth Rajnic and a block by Rajnic and Ethan Espenshade to extend their lead to 7-3. A pair of kills for Rajnic and a block from Rajnic and Cooper Henseler brought the score to 10-7 in favor of Messiah. A pair of kills for Connor Himelfarb split with a kill from Everett Macurda extended the Messiah lead to 14-9. After trading points, Rajnic and Espenshade each tallied kills before a service error from King's brought the score to 20-14 in favor of Messiah. Cooper Henseler found Jonathan Nixon for a kill before Henseler tallied a service ace. A block from Macurda and Nixon gave Messiah a 23-15 lead. A kill from Connor Himelfarb and an error from the Monarchs gave Messiah the 25-17 set three win and the 3-0 sweep.

Stats
Connor Himelfarb led the Falcons with nine kills while Sean Gillespie and Alex Kagoro each added six. Alex Kagoro notched his 1000th career kill at Messiah, just the second Falcon to reach the milestone in program history. Cooper Henseler dished out 20 assists. Todd Snyder and Seth Rajnic each tallied four blocks while Seth Graybill led the Falcons with six digs.

Up Next
The Falcons return to action on Saturday, March 21 at 1:00 p.m. when they travel to Hoboken, N.J. to take on the No. 5 Ducks of Stevens in a national top five showdown and MAC battle.