#11 Men’s Volleyball Falls to #7 Messiah in Straight Sets
Alem Dubcak led the Black & Gold with 11 kills, hitting .300 on the night. Brayden Green added a team-high 15 assists while Cody Popp’s four digs led the team.
January 23, 2026
DALLAS, Penn. – The #11 Wentworth Institute of Technology men's volleyball team fell to the #7 Messiah Falcons in straight sets on Friday night. Alem Dubcak hit .300 with a team-high 11 kills. Brayden Green tallied 15 assists to lead the team while Cody Popp recorded a team-high four digs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Messiah took the early lead behind kills from Jake Eby and Alex Kagoro. The Leopards battled back to get the score to 9-7 with finishes by Benjamin Moughon and Eli Turner before the sides exchanged the next six points. Dubcak, Turner and Moughon had strong finishes to fire Wentworth in front 15-14, their first lead of the set. A 5-2 run from the Falcons put them back in front by a point late in the set. Back-to-back finishes from Dubcak and kills from William Biggs and Matthew Zegowitz capped a 5-1 run for the Leopards as they took control with a 23-22 lead. A kill from Kagoro and two aces from Sean Gillespie gave the Falcons the 25-23 victory in set one.
- Wentworth got points from Moughon and Dubcak to keep the game 4-2 in the opening rallies of the second set. Messiah pushed the lead to 11-6, forcing Wentworth to use a timeout. The Leopards came out of the break with back-to-back kills from Conner Foxwell and Dubcak, but Messiah answered to keep the lead at five points. The Falcons went on a 5-1 run to make it a 20-11 game before going on to win the set 25-18, taking a 2-0 lead in the match.
- Messiah built a 6-2 lead to open the third set and the Leopards called a timeout. An ace from Nicolai Bell and a few errors by the Falcons evened the score at 7-all before Foxwell's finish gave Wentworth its first lead of the frame. Messiah once again answered with a 7-0 run, aided by four attack errors by the Leopards, to take a 14-8 lead and Wentworth burned another timeout. Turner and Dubcak tallied kills out of the break, but the Falcons maintained a five-point edge, hitting the 20-point mark. Three errors on Messiah made it a 22-18 game before the Falcons closed the set 25-22, completing the sweep.
THE SERIES
- Tonight was the first ever meeting between the two teams.
NEXT UP
- Wentworth takes on Misericordia and Drew on Saturday.
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