ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team tied a season low with only eight attack errors and recorded their second-best attack percentage (.347) in a 3-0 sweep of Loras in non-conference action on Tuesday afternoon.
Meeting for the first time in program history, the Lions (7-14) closed out their home schedule with a 25-18, 25-16 and 25-17 victory over the Hawks (10-13). Trenton Munk (Baden, PA/Ambridge) hit .429 on the day with a team-high 11 kills with two errors on 21 attempts. He also added four digs, two aces and two blocks.
Eric Theiss (Plum, PA/Plum) also registered double-digit kills with 10, while Anthony Sprentz (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) game highs in assists (32) and digs (9).
Loras was led by Ryan Galvan's 12 kills.
After the Hawks won the first two points of the first set, Behrend used a 6-1 run to never trail again. Loras got within one at 9-8 off a kill from Galvan, but the Lions had a 10-4 spurt that pushed the lead to 19-12. Munk served four of the last five points and Theiss knocked in his fourth kill of the set for a 25-18 win.
Behrend took control midway through the second set for a 15-10 advantage, to force a Hawk timeout. After the break, the five-point lead turned into eight on consecutive kills by Theiss to make it 21-13. The Lions defense held Loras to just three more points, while Josh Oertly (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) and Joey Reynolds (Saegertown, PA/Saegertown) each tallied a kill for the final two points.
With the score tied 10-all in the third, Behrend went on a 9-4 run to pull away for good. The Lions also took advantage of nine attack errors by the Hawks and used a pair of kills by Theiss and one from Oertly to finish Loras in three sets.
Oertly had a .357 attack percentage with seven kills on 14 attempts and two errors. The senior is 25 kills away from breaking the all-time record set at 669. Oertly sits third with 645 career kills.
Behrend returns to action on Thursday at Medaille. Match starts at 7 p.m.