No. 11 Elmira Defeats Men's Volleyball

ERIE, Pa. – The No. 11 Elmira men's volleyball team earned their first United Volleyball Conference (UVC) win with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-12, 25-15) victory over Penn State Behrend on Wednesday night in the Junker Center.

Erik Griffin, the current AVCA National Player of the Week, had a .714 attacking percentage with a match-high 11 kills, five aces and four digs to help the Soaring Eagles (12-14, 1-2 UVC) to their fifth straight win over the Lions (3-8, 1-2 UVC).

Anthony Sprentz (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) posted double-digit assists with 11, while Tyler Herrmann (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) added five kills.

In the first set, Elmira hit an astounding .667 as a team, only committing two errors for a 25-13 decision. The momentum carried over to the second set for the Soaring Eagles. A quick 6-1 start forced a Behrend timeout. Carlos Faccio, who led with seven aces, got two in a row followed by a pair of aces from Griffin to take a 13-4 lead. Herrmann managed three kills for the Lions in the second set, but the strong Elmira offense overpowered a comeback attempt for a 25-12 set-two victory for the Soaring Eagles.

Faccio's serving early on in the third set got Elmira out to a 9-3 lead behind five aces. The final 10 out of 11 points of the match were errors by both teams, before Mike Ellison tallied a kill for a 25-15 win. 

Behrend returns to action on Sunday against Medaille and Mt. St. Joseph. The first match begins at 10:30 a.m.