GRANTHAM, PA (February 27, 2024) -- The King's College men's volleyball team battled hard against #17 Messiah in a Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) matchup on Tuesday night. The Monarchs (13-3, 0-3 MAC) fell 3-0 to the Falcons (11-6, 2-0 MAC) in Hitchcock Arena.
 
The first set was neck-in-neck as there were six ties and three lead changes. King's had a hot start with a 7-3 run that included kills by Nick Greenawalt (Sr.) and Logan Dougherty (Fy.). Messiah inched their way back to tie it at 10-10 after points made by Alex Kagoro and Ryan Givens. From then on every time the Monarchs scored, their hosts answered with their own two. King's were unable to withstand the Falcons and lost 25-19.
 
The Monarchs were down 4-0 to start the second set when they pulled a 4-2 jolt that comprised of kills by Gavin Gilhool (Jr.) and Greg Bousquet (So.) to get within two. Though Messiah was not going to make it easy as they continued to hold their lead. It was 17 -11 after a King's timeout when the Monarchs came roaring back with a kill by Bousquet to resume the matchup, but it soon became a point-for-point battle. King's made a two-point swing to get within two. Messiah eventually won 25-10.
 
The third and final set started off like the first two as the Monarchs looked to edge their challengers. The Falcons were able to maintain their momentum throughout the set. It was 24-10 when King's made three straight points that included tallies made by Dougherty. The Monarchs lost 25-13 to end the evening.
 
King's ended with 26 kills, 23 assists, five blocks, 16 digs, and a hitting percentage of .165. Bousquet set a standard of six kills, three blocks, and three digs. Rich Alvarez (Jr.) followed with his own five kills. Gilhool earned five kills with a hitting percentage of .833 and three blocks. Ben Maskiell (So.) dished out 19 assists with two kills, three digs, and a block.
 
Messiah finished with 47 kills, 25 assists, six aces, five blocks, 33 digs, and a hitting percentage of .425. Kagoro paced his team with 13 kills, three aces and three blocks. Givens had his own 12 kills with a hitting percentage of .647 and Jacob Hamm followed with 11 kills. Brandon Sharp passed out 23 helpers and Noah Aurdos had 19. Connor Stauffer fueled the defense with 10 digs.
 
The Monarchs will be back home in McGrane Gymnasium at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 29^th to take on Penn State- Schuylkill before Spring Break gets underway. The squad will have another home match against Misericordia on Wednesday, March 13^th at 7 p.m. for a MAC contest.