GLENSIDE, Pa. -- The No. 12 Arcadia men's volleyball team picked up a pair of wins on the first day of the Knight Classic on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Gymnasium. The Knights quickly dispatched John Jay 3-0 to open play, then outlasted Elmira 3-2 to close out the day.
 
The Knights are now 6-3 on the season, while John Jay is 3-1 and Elmira is 1-3.
 
Arcadia 3, John Jay 0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-19)
Behind a balanced offense, the Knights hit .303 as a team and limited the Bloodhounds to a .050 hitting percentage as a team in producing the sweep. The Knights had 10 different players register at least one kill, and no player had more than seven. Austin Braas led the way with seven kills on just eight swings for an .875 hitting percentage, and Jason Manley and Dan Paraskevov chipped in six and four kills, respectively. Manley also had five blocks, and Alvyn Abraham and Anthony Devantier posted 14 and 13 assists, respectively.
 
The Knights cruised in the first set, jumping out to a 9-4 lead and were never seriously threatened in the opener. In the second, John Jay hung around in the early going, tying the score at 7-7 early on. Arcadia answered with a 7-0 run for a 14-7 lead, taking advantage of four attack errors and a ball handling error along the way. A late burst by the Bloodhounds allowed John Jay to close to within 23-20, but a kill by Collin Nissley and a service aces from Edwin Waters Jr. closed out the set.
 
A 5-0 run to open the third, including four blocks by Nissley and Manley on John Jay's Kyrstian Surdel, set the tone early. Leading 20-18, the Knights got a kill from Manley then three straight service aces from Devantier for a 24-18 lead. Arcadia sealed the win when JJU's Dylan Senkiw committed a service error to seal the match.
 
Arcadia 3, Elmira 2 (21-25, 25-21, 25-14, 23-25, 15-8)
Robie Moctezuma had eight kills and came up with nine blocks as the Knights rallied past Elmira.
 
After dropping the first set, then evening the match at 1-1 with a win in the second, the Knights appeared to be cruising to a win with a 25-14 victory in the third.
 
Arcadia hit .421 in the third and held Elmira to a -.053 hitting percentage. Moctezuma and Manley each had three kills in the set, and Moctezuma also came up with a pair of blocks in the third.
 
A hard-fought fourth set went the way of the Soaring Eagles late. Leading 17-14 and looking to win in four, the Knights saw Elmira use a 5-1 run to take a 19-18 lead. The teams traded points to get the score to 21-21 before the Soaring Eagles got the key two-point lead on a service error and bad set to go up 23-21. Landon Miller recorded the final point of the set on a kill and evented the match at 2-2.
 
In the fifth and final set, a kill and two blocks from Moctezuma helped AU to an early 7-3 lead and prompted an Elmira timeout. The Soaring Eagles got a point out of the stoppage, but AU scored four of the next five points for an 11-5 lead and cruised from there, clinching the match on a block from Moctezuma and Manley.
 
Braas led the offense with 11 kills and added five blocks. Manley had nine kills, seven digs and four blocks, while Quinn Baily added eight kills and four digs. Devantier handled the setting duties, handing out 39 assists and added six digs and four blocks.
 
Jose Malave led Elmira with 16 kills, and Garrett Coleman and Landon Miller had nine apiece. Jeremy Best had 40 assists, and Ryan McDonough added seven digs.
 
The Knights are back on the court on tomorrow vs. Randolph-Macon at 11 a.m., followed by a 3 p.m. matchup with Eastern Mennonite.