The Misericordia University men's volleyball team advanced to the MAC championship game for the first time in program history with a thrilling five-set win over Messiah, Thursday night on Doc Mould Court.

The Cougars took the opener, 25-17, and rallied to win the fourth and fifth sets, 25-16, 16-14.

Jared Piontkowski led the Cougars with 31 kills, including the 1,00^th of his career.  Anthony DePalma had 15 kills, including the fifth-set clincher.

Benjamin Clendening had six kills while Gannon DeFrain had 42 assists to over 1,000 for the season.

A Messiah service error and an ace by Matt Albrecht gave the Cougars the lead for good in the opener 6-4.

DePalma's kill inside the right pin started a 4-0 run and Jackson Fehnel ended it with a kill on the left side to give MU a 16-10 lead.

Zane Martin's smash inside the back line made it 20-16 and the Cougars ended the set on a 5-0 spurt.

The Cougars trailed early in the second set and Piontkowski pulled them within 10-9 with his 1,000^th career kill.

The Falcons broke a 14-14 tie with a 7-2 spurt and went on to win 25-19.

Fehnel's kill down the left side gave MU its first lead of the third set, 14-13.

Down 20-17, the Cougars rallied and Piontkowski's smash from the right side gave MU a 23-22 lead. The Falcons answered with three straight kills to win 25-23.

Misericordia never trailed in the fourth set and used a 7-1 run to take a 21-12 lead.  Piontkowski hit through a potential blocker on the left side and Fehnel buried an overpass before an ace by DePalma to give the Cougars a 17-11 lead.

After a Falcons' point, the Cougars took advantage of four straight errors to go up 21-12.

Fehnel's smash inside the left sideline made it 22-13 and Piontkowski closed the 25-16 win with a right-side kill through two blockers.

Piontkowski had two kills as the Cougars took a quick 6-1 lead in the finale.  Messiah battled back to pull even, 13-13.

DePalma's kill gave MU a 14-13 lead, but service error kept the Falcons alive.

Piontkowski and DePalma responded with back-to-back kills to close a 15-13 win.

The Cougars will travel to Stevens, Saturday.