DALLAS, Pa. (1/31/2025) – The Nichols College men's volleyball team returned to action for the opening night of the Cougar Kickoff Classic Tournament Friday, competing in two matches against T-No. 12 Messiah University and host No. 20 Misericordia University. The Bison fell in their evening opener against Messiah, 3-0 (16-25, 17-25, 22-25), but had their second match versus the host Cougars suspended in the third set due to a power outage.
Nichols now drops to 3-5 on the season with the single loss.
Match #1 at No. 12 Messiah University
Bradyn Pomainville paced the Bison with four kills on a team-best .500 hitting percentage, with three blocks and two digs while playing all three sets.
Jack Normandin,
Tanner Soracco and
Dylan Knapp each matched Pomainville's four kills, while
Cade Bernardi and
Adam Vincent combined for 10 digs to lead the defensive effort.
Messiah hit .435 in the opening set and used a 10-3 run midway through to power their way to a 25-16 victory to get things started. The Bison fared somewhat better in the second set, managing a 15-14 advantage before the Falcons fired off a dominant 10-1 run to bring the score to set point, 24-16. The two sides managed one more point apiece, both via service errors, with Messiah winning 25-17 for a 2-0 match lead.
The Bison received a boost early in the third set from several more Messiah errors, but still struggled to keep the Falcons off the scoreboard as the two teams battled their way up to a 13-13 tie. Play continued through six more ties, before the Falcons claimed five of the remaining seven points to win the set 25-22, completing the sweep.
Match #2 at No. 20 Misericordia University
The Cougars quickly pounced on an early 6-2 lead in the first set, from which Nichols could not recover. However, the Bison bounced back in the ensuing set, coming from behind late to tie the score at 20-20 on a Soracco kill. Following a brief stretch of back-and-forth play in the waning moments, a Cougar service error brought the score to set point with Nichols ahead, 24-23, before Soracco connected for a final kill to win it for Nichols, 25-23, tying the match score at 1-1.
The two sides continued to battle through a closely contested third set that featured a whopping 12 ties, but saw it come to an abrupt halt due to a power outage inside the facility. At that point, Misericordia owned a narrow 23-20 lead in the third, with play expected to resume on Saturday morning at 10 AM.
In addition to the unfinished Misericordia match, the Bison have another pair of contests on deck for the closing day of the Cougar Kickoff Classic Saturday. Nichols faces No. 2 New York University (7-0) at 2:00 PM, followed by a 4:00 match against Drew University (0-8).
