WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's volleyball team dropped its Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) opener to Messiah University 3-0 (25-18, 25-11, 25-18) to open its Saturday tri-match at the Marts Center before sweeping past Wells College 3-0 (25-22, 29-27, 25-21).

Wilkes now stands at 6-8 overall and 0-1 in the MAC after today's action. Messiah improved to 6-3 overall and 2-0 in the MAC with its win over the Colonels. Wells dropped to 1-7 overall.

In the first match of the day, the Falcons went ahead 10-5 in the first set but the Colonels used a three-point run to close within two. The two sides then exchanged three-point runs as the score stood 13-11 Messiah following a kill by Noah Taylor (Lumberton, NJ/Rancocas Valley Regional). A solo block by Lucas Mages (Buffalo, NY/Iroquois Central) kept the Colonels within two at 17-15 but then the Falcons closed on an 8-3 run to win 25-15.

Messiah used a 12-3 run in the middle of the second set to pull away as the guests would win 25-11.

Wilkes took its first lead of the match with the first two points of the third set. The Falcons then went on an 8-2 run and the Colonels never closed to within less than three points as Messiah closed out the sweep with a 25-18 victory.

Paul Binner (Tunkhannock, PA/Tunkhannock) led the Colonels with five kills while Taylor added four. Binner also led with seven assists. Adan Sandoval (Lebanon, PA/Lebanon) had four digs.

Mason Nissley led Messiah with 11 kills over two sets played and Matt Knab had 28 assists in two sets and a match high five digs.

In the second match, Wilkes made the first push in the opening set to gain a 20-14 lead. Wells would close to within one at 23-22 but Taylor put away a kill and an attack error by the Express gave Wilkes the final two points to win 25-22.

Wilkes built an early 6-2 lead and then led 18-11 in the second set following a block by Jacob Mages (Buffalo, NY/Iroquois Central) and Everett Fritz (Ringtown, PA/Hazleton Area). Wells climbed all the way back with a 10-2 run to take a 21-20 lead and led 24-22. Wilkes then scored the next two points on Express errors to force extra points. Kills by Ethan Speicher (Midlothian, VA/Cosby) and Fritz put Wilkes up 26-25, a kill by Fritz put Wilkes ahead 27-26, and then two kills from J. Mages finally finished off Wells at 29-27.

In the third set an ace by L. Mages and a kill by Taylor put Wilkes up 18-14. Wells closed to within one at 20-19 but Wilkes scored five of the last six points to win 25-21 on an ace by Speicher.

Taylor finished with 11 kills while Speicher added a season high 10 and three aces. Fritz also was strong with nine kills. Binner had a career high 17 assists while Casey Shipman (Hershey, PA/Hershey) added 14 more. L. Mages had eight digs while Binner and Sandoval each had seven.

Connor Garvey led Wells with 11 kills while Cooper Colesante had 23 assists and seven digs.

The Colonels return to the court on Wednesday with a road MAC match against crosstown rival King's at 7:00 p.m.