WILKES-BARRE, PA (March 30, 2022) -- For their final road contest of the 2022 season, the King's College men's volleyball team posted the season sweep over their cross-town rival Wilkes University, 3-0, on Wednesday in MAC action. With the win, the Monarchs improve to 14-11 overall and 3-9 in conference play, while the Colonels drop to 9-21 for the season and 0-11 against conference opponents.

King's (14-11, 3-9 MAC) stormed out of the gates to start the rivalry matchup as they led early, 14-7, over the Colonels. Wilkes (9-21, 0-11 MAC) closed within three, 16-13, but the Monarchs allowed just two more points for their foes down the stretch as King's earned the 25-15 win in the opening set.

Wilkes trailed by just two to start the second set, 12-10, but a 12-3 Monarchs run proved to be too much of a deficit for the Colonels to see King's take the second set, 25-16, and a 2-0 lead in the match.

The final set of the day featured 14 ties and nine lead changes to give the rivalry some excitement. With the visitors trailing 12-8, they used a 6-2 rally to take the lead, 14-13. The Colonels responded to go up 18-16 over the Monarchs, but King's was able to string together another run to hold a 21-19 advantage. Wilkes would pull within one a final time in the set, 23-22, but back-to-back kills from sophomore Jared Piontkowski put the set away with King's ahead, 25-22, and earn the Monarchs the 3-0 win in the MAC match on Wednesday night.

Jared Piontkowski led the King's offense with 15 kills on 27 attempts, hitting .370, with three aces and four digs. Junior Joe Herman had a solid game with seven kills on 14 attempts to hit .429, with team-highs of six digs and four aces. Junior George Beck dished out 30 assists with three digs, while junior Aziz Atiyeh added four digs in the back row.

The Colonels were led by Jackson Shafer with 13 kills, while the setter duo of Casey Shipman and Paul Binner combined for 30 helpers. Binner also led the defensive efforts with six digs, and Ethan Speicher recorded three blocks.

As a team, the Monarchs hit .348 for the match with just 10 errors, while the defense held the Colonels to a .179 hitting percentage. Inside the stat sheet, King's edged out Wilkes in kills (33-32), aces (11-7), assists (32-30), and digs (25-21).

King's will conclude its 2022 season on Friday evening as they celebrate senior day against Misericordia University at 6:00 p.m. in  McGrane Gymnasium.