GLENSIDE, Pa. - The Arcadia University men's volleyball team dropped both ends of its home doubleheader against Messiah Saturday afternoon, as the Knights came up just short in a tightly-contested, five-set thriller in the opener before falling in straight sets to the Falcons in the nightcap.
Arcadia 2, Messiah 3
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Knights took the opening set, 25-19. After the Falcons opened the match with a 6-2 run, the Knights answered back with an 12-7 rally to take their first lead, 14-13. Nissley capped off the run with a service ace, while Baily aided the run with two kills. The Knights gained some separation late in the match with a 3-0 run to give themselves a five-point advantage. Arcadia clinched the opening set on a Messiah attack error.
- The Falcons evened things up in the second set with a 25-18 victory. The Knights jumped ahead early, but Messiah was able to even things up with a 3-0 run, 10-10. After both teams went back-and-forth on points, the Falcons pulled ahead with a 6-1 run on the road to a set victory.
- Messiah put themselves in the driver's seat with a 25-20 victory in set three. Baily led an early 4-0 run with three kills to give his squad a two-point advantage, 7-5. However, Messiah went on another late rally with a 5-0 swing to pull ahead by five points, 20-15, and take a one set advantage.
- The Knights forced a final set with a hard-fought set four victory, 25-23. After a back-and-forth opening to the set, Arcadia put themselves in position to win with a late 5-1 run, which was capped off by consecutive kills from Nissley and Baily. After Messiah pulled within one point, 24-23, Baily sent the Knights to a fifth set with a clinching kill.
- Messiah took the fifth set in another tightly-contested battle, 15-12. Messiah pulled ahead early in the final stanza, then expanded upon their lead with a 3-0 run towards the latter half of the set, 12-7. The Knights were able to gain ground on the Falcons, but couldn't overtake Messiah with a late run.
KNIGHT LEADERS
Kills: Baily 16, Nissley 13
Aces: Nissley 3
Blocks: K. Abraham 5, Nissley 4
Assists: Devantier 28, McConnell 9
Digs: Baily 10, Heft 7
Arcadia 0, Messiah 3
HOW IT HAPPENED
-The second match of the afternoon had all the makings of the opener in the early going as the two sides traded points into the middle stages of the first set. With the Knights leading 14-12, Messiah went on a 5-0 run to retake the lead but Arcadia battled back to even the set at 18-all. The Knights and Falcons alternated points to arrive at 22-22 tie, but Messiah secured three of the final four points to take the first set, 25-23.
-Kills from six different Knights - led by two each from Baily and
Dylan Zimmerman - made up Arcadia's first ten points of the second set, but a 5-2 Messiah run pitted the hosts down two at 16-14. A kill and consecutive service aces from Baily sparked a 4-0 Knight run to retake the lead before a Heft kill and ace positioned Arcadia with a 23-20 lead late in the second. After trading points back-and-forth, the two sides arrived at a 27-all stalemate before the Falcons took the final two points for the 29-27 victory.
-Two Messiah scoring runs of 5-0 and 4-0 in the middle stages of the third set put Arcadia on its heels needing a win to stay alive while trailing 20-14, and despite kills from
Amadeus Cannon,
Ryan Miller, and
Kevin Abraham to get the Knights within three late, Messiah closed out the match with a 25-21 win.
KNIGHT LEADERS
Kills: Baily 13, Heft 6
Aces: Baily 3, Heft 2
Blocks: Cannon 2
Assists: Devantier 17, McConnell 16
Digs: Knotts/Heft/Gonzalez 5
UP NEXT
Arcadia (1-2) travels to Widener Wedensday for its first road match at 7:30 p.m.
