ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team defeated Keuka 3-0 before falling to Sage 3-1 on day one of a non-conference quad match held at the Junker Center on Saturday.
The Lions (5-5) posted a 25-16, 25-14 and 26-24 win in the first match of the day against the Wolves (1-6) and then dropped a 25-21, 25-14, 22-25, 25-21 decision to the Gators (4-6).
Robert McMaster (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) had double-digit digs in both matches, totaling 28 digs on the day. Anthony Sprentz (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) combined for 61 assists, including 25 against Sage.
In the opening match, Tyler Herrmann (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) paced Behrend with 12 kills while Dillon Hildebrand (Red Lion, PA/Red Lion) added 10. Hildebrand tallied a pair of aces and Herrmann knocked in a pair of kills to put the Lions ahead 14-9 in the first set. Behrend won the next nine out of 14 points thanks a kill apiece at the end from Hildebrand, Cody Geis (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) and JP Goodsel (Corry, PA/Corry) to make it 25-16.
With a slight 12-10 lead in the second set, Josh Mathews (Rochester, NY/Churchville-Chili) served up six straight points to make it 18-10. Hildebrand got another ace and Herrmann got his second kill for set point to end at 25-14.
Behrend trailed for most of the third set, grabbing a 22-21 lead off a Danny Francis (Pittsburgh, PA/Thomas Jefferson) service ace to force a Keuka timeout. The Wolves tied it and went ahead two points on back-to-back kills from Connor Gail for set point. Geis knocked in a kill to even it at 24-all and then the Lions took advantage of an error and won on Herrmann's heroics and kill at 26-24.
McMaster tallied 14 digs and Mathews finished with eight assists, seven digs.
In the second match of the day, the Gators had three people with double-digit kills to defeat Behrend 3-1. Jake Albert (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) led with nine kills.
Sage tallied 18 kills in the first set to post a 25-21 victory for a 1-0 lead in the match. Tied at 15-all, the Lions won the next point on an attack error for a short-lived lead. Three final kills down the stretch allowed the Gators to get the four-point win.
Sage went ahead 2-0 with a convincing 25-14 win in the second set, but Behrend picked up a 25-22 third-set victory to make it 2-1. The largest lead by any team in the third set was two points. The Gators held a 21-19 edge but a kill from Joey Reynolds (Saegertown, PA/Saegertown) and a couple Sage errors put Behrend ahead 22-21. Another pair of errors combined with a Geis kill gave the Lions a three-point win.
Sage tallied a 25-21 win in the fourth set to make it a 3-1 final.
Goodsel and Albert led with nine kills against the Gators. Mathews made a career-high 17 digs in the loss.
Behrend returns to action tomorrow against Wittenberg at 1 p.m.