MECHANICSBURG, PA (February 8, 2022) -- The King's College men's volleyball team dropped their Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) opener on Tuesday evening at Messiah University, 3-0, to being conference play 0-1 while falling to 8-2 overall. Messiah improves to 4-3 overall, 1-0 in MAC play with the win.

King's (8-2, 0-1 MAC) trailed by five, 13-8, before the host Messiah (4-3, 1-0 MAC) rattled off seven straight points to pull away and win the opening set, 25-13, over the Monarchs. The Monarchs battled early in the second set, behind 18-15, but the Falcons closed the set strong with a 7-1 run to hand King's the set two loss, 25-16. King's strung together a pair of points throughout the early plays in the final set, facing a 12-9 deficit, but the veteran Messiah squad separated themselves with a 10-2 stretch as they won t he final set, 25-16, and the match, 3-0, over the Monarchs.

Sophomore Jared Piontkowski led King's with eight kills, while junior George Beck lent out 12 assists. Defensively, junior Joe Herman led with five digs and two blocks, and first year Rich Alvarez added two blocks of his own.

Messiah was led by Mason Nissley with 11 kills on 18 attempts, hitting .500, while Matt Knab dished out 34 helpers with three aces and three blocks. The defense was led by Luke Olson with six digs.

As a team, King's was just edged out in the block game, 5-4, by the host Messiah in the loss.

The Monarchs will look to bounce back on Saturday, February 12 as they travel to the City College of New York for a tri-match with the hosts and St. Joseph's-Brooklyn beginning at 12:00 p.m. in New York, NY.