GLENSIDE, PA (March 2, 2022) -- Sophomore Jared Piontkowski showed out for a record-breaking performance, but the efforts were not enough as the King's College men's volleyball team dropped a 3-2 decision at Arcadia University on Wednesday night. The Monarchs fall to 11-5 overall and 1-3 in MAC play, while the Knights improve to 7-10 for the season and 4-1 against conference foes.

Arcadia (7-10, 4-1 MAC) got hot early in the matchup, leading 13-9, before King's (11-5, 1-3 MAC) rattled off 10 of the next 13 points in the set to take a 19-16 lead over the hosts. The Knights battled back to tie the set at 21, but despite kills from Jared Piontkowski and junior Joe Herman, Arcadia edged out the Monarchs to end the set with a 26-24 win. It was another close contest in the second set with the Knights ahead 17-13, but the Monarchs found their rhythm to connect for four straight and tie the set at 17. After the two teams traded points and ended the run tied at 21, King's saw two Knights errors and two aces from Jared Piontkowski to secure the set two win, 25-22, and tie the match, 1-1.

The Knights continued to find momentum in the early stages of the third set, leading 12-7, but the Monarchs found a groove to tie the set at 15. It was a back-and-forth bout down the stretch, but the host Arcadia came out on top, 25-22, to lead the match, 2-1, over the Monarchs. Set four was controlled by the Monarchs, and after an early lead held a 16-13 advantage. This lead was enough to tie the set as King's scored six of the last nine tallies in the set to win the fourth, 25-21, and tie the match again, 2-2, to force the fifth set.

It seemed as though Arcadia would run away with the fifth set, posting an early 5-1 advantage. The Monarchs rallied to tie the set at 10 a piece, and each team traded three-point runs to see the set tied at 13. A kill and an ace from the Knights recorded the final two points to see the hosts take the fifth, 15-13, and hand the Monarchs the tough 3-2 loss on Wednesday night in MAC play.

Jared Piontkowski set the program record for kills in a five-set match with 26 kills on 49 attempts, hitting .347, while also setting the program record for aces in a five-set match with eight and adding eight digs and two blocks. Herman recorded 13 kills on 33 attempts with just two errors to hit .333 for the match with eight digs, while junior George Beck dished out 27 assists with six digs. Defensively, junior Declan Larson tallied a team-best 12 digs, and junior Aziz Atiyeh added five digs and 11 assists. Additionally, the duo of sophomore Peter Scholl and junior Sam Capwell totaled four blocks each.

Collin Nissley and Dylan Zimmerman each paced Arcadia with 15 kills, as Zimmerman posted a double-double with 11 digs and Nissley added a team-high tying five blocks. Vincent Colucci led the Knights defense with 12 digs, while Anthony Devantier handed out 38 helpers.

Offensively, this contest was evenly matched as King's hit .305 and Arcadia hit .315 in the five-setter. Additionally, the teams broke even on aces (9-9) and saw close contests as King's held the edge in digs (45-44) and Arcadia came out on top in blocks (10-9).

The Monarchs return to MAC play on Saturday as they travel to Alvernia University for a 12:00 p.m. game time in Reading, Pa.