Story Courtesy of Messiah Athletics

GRANTHAM, Pa. – The No. 8 Messiah Men's Volleyball team advanced to the 2026 MAC Championship game after defeating Stevenson University 3-0 with set scores of 25-16, 25-20, and 25-22. Tyler McConnell led the Falcons with 18 kills, hitting .593 on the night, and adding four blocks. Todd Snyder added eight kills while hitting .500 and tallied eight blocks. Tyler Good and Aidan Dunwoody each tallied nine digs while Brandon Sharp dished out 35 assists.

The Falcons will return to Hoboken, N.J. on Saturday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m. to take on the Stevens Ducks, who defeated Misericordia 3-0 in the other semifinal match Thursday night.

First Set
The Falcons started the set with a 4-2 lead after an opening block for Tyler McConnell and Jake Eby, a kill for Todd Snyder, and a pair of kills for Alex Kagoro. A block from Kagoro and Snyder and kill for Kagoro from Brandon Sharp brought the score to 7-4. After another kill from Kagoro, the Mustangs tied the score 8-8. With the teams tied 9-9, Messiah scored three straight with a kill from McConnell, error from Stevenson and a service ace from Sean Gillespie. After a Mustangs' point, Messiah rattled off six straight to take an 18-10 lead. The run included a kill for Tyler McConnell and a pair of blocks for McConnell and Snyder. The Falcons and Mustangs traded points before Brandon Sharp found Tyler Good for a kill then Jake Eby for a kill for a 22-15 lead. After a point for the Mustangs, a service error for Stevenson, service ace for Tyler Good and kill for Tyler McConnell gave Messiah the 25-16 set one win.

Second Set
Messiah took a 2-0 lead with a kill for Todd Snyder from Brandon Sharp and an error from the Mustangs. They then tallied a kill from Tyler McConnell and a block from Everett Macurda and Todd Snyder for a 4-2 lead. The teams traded service errors before the Mustangs leveled the score at 5-5. Tyler Good and Jake Eby each notched kills as the teams continued to trade points. Sharp found McConnell for a pair of kills before a solo block from Todd Snyder gave Messiah a 12-9 lead. McConnell tallied a kill before Sharp found Snyder for a kill and an error from the Mustangs extended the lead to 15-12. Jake Eby added a kill before the Mustangs took an 18-17 lead. Brandon Sharp connected with Jake Eby for a kill before Tyler McConnell tallied a kill for a 19-18 lead. After the Mustangs tallied a kill, Messiah scored five straight for a 24-19 lead that included a pair of kills for McConnell, a block from Everett Macurda and Todd Snyder, a kill for Snyder, and a block from McConnell and Snyder. Brandon Sharp connected with Snyder for the final kill, giving Messiah the 25-20 set two win and 2-0 match lead.

Third Set
The third set included a lot of back-and-forth play from the beginning. The Falcons opened set three with a kill for Tyler McConnell from Brandon Sharp before a kill from McConnell tied the score 3-3. Todd Snyder tallied a pair of kills before Jake Eby notched a kill to bring the score to 6-6. Tyler Good added a kill from Sharp before a pair of kills from Sharp to McConnell leveled the score at 11-11. After the Mustangs took a 15-12 lead, Messiah scored four straight on errors from Stevenson to take the lead back at 16-15. Brandon Sharp tallied a kill before connected with McConnell for a kill. Sean Gillespie added a service ace to take a 20-19 lead before Stevenson tipped the score in their favor at 21-20. Todd Snyder and Brandon Sharp combined for a block before Tyler McConnell and Snyder each tallied kills for a 23-21 lead. After a kill from the Mustangs, Sharp found McConnell and Everett Macurda for kills to give the Falcons the 25-22 set three win and 3-0 match sweep to advance to the 2026 MAC Championship Game.

Stats
Tyler McConnell led the Falcons with 18 kills, hitting .593 on the night, and adding four blocks. Todd Snyder added eight kills while hitting .500 and tallied eight blocks. Tyler Good and Aidan Dunwoody each tallied nine digs while Brandon Sharp dished out 35 assists.

Up Next
The Falcons will return to Hoboken, N.J. on Saturday, April 11 at 7:00 p.m. to take on the Stevens Ducks, who defeated Misericordia 3-0 in the other semifinal match Thursday night.