ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team fell to No. 12 MIT and No. 3 New Paltz St. by scores of 3-1 in a United Volleyball Conference (UVC) tri-match on Saturday afternoon at the Junker Center.
The Lions fell to MIT (8-2, 1-1 UVC) in four sets (25-18, 25-18, 23-25, 25-17) and then challenged the Hawks (6-1, 2-0 UVC) in the second game, but fell 25-21, 24-26, 25-18 and 25-18. On the day, Eric Theiss (Plum, PA/Plum) led the Lions (5-4, 0-2 UVC) with 19 kills and 15 digs.
Against the Engineers, Theiss had a double-double with 13 digs and 11 kills. Trenton Munk (Baden, PA/Ambridge) led with 12 kills, hitting .455 for the match and adding two blocks.
In the first two sets, MIT did not pull away from Behrend until the final six points of the match. The Engineers had a small 19-17 lead in both games and held the Lions to one point down the stretch to earn the win in both sets, 25-18.
Behrend only gave up the lead twice in the third set to get the two-point win. The score was tied four times with the last at 23-all, before Ty Sheehan (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) got his third kill of the set and MIT was called for an attack error to set the match at 2-1.
The Engineers tallied a game-best 20 digs and had four blocks in the fourth set to finish the match with a 25-17 win.
In the second match against New Paltz St., Theiss hit .500 behind eight kills and no errors on 16 attempts, while Mitch Farabaugh (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) added 23 assists and a team-best eight digs.
After the Hawks took set one 25-21, Behrend evened the match a 1-all with a close 26-24 victory. New Paltz had match point on four occasions and the Lions were persistent in getting the last four points. Zach Miller (Plum, PA/Plum) served out the set and Derek Polishen (Plum, PA/Plum) recorded two kills for the win.
Despite the 26 service errors, including eight in the third set, the Hawks won the final two sets by identical scores of 25-18.
Josh Oertly (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) finished with 10 kills and eight blocks, while Sheehan earned 13 kills and 16 digs for two matches.
Behrend returns to action on Tuesday at Hilbert. Match begins at 7 p.m.