ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team defeated Penn State Altoona in five sets, winning 25-13, 25-16, 23-25, 18-25 and 15-9 in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) action on Saturday.
The Lions (7-6, 3-0 AMCC) remain undefeated in conference play with their first win over the Altoona Lions (8-10, 1-1 AMCC) since the 2014-15 season. Behrend came out swinging in the first two sets, hitting .565 in the first and then committing three errors in the second for a quick 2-0 lead. Altoona forced more errors in the next two sets to even it a 2-all before the Lions hit .429 in the fifth for the win.
The Behrend Lions had three players with double-digit kills, led by Dillon Hildebrand (Red Lion, PA/Red Lion) with 17 to go with his 10 digs for a double-double. Tyler Herrmann (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) also had a double-double with 15 kills (.297) and 13 digs.
Cody Geis (Mechanicsburg, PA/Cumberland Valley) added eight blocks and seven kills for Behrend.
The Behrend Lions did not let Altoona gets settled in the first two sets, darting out to a 20-11 lead off a kill by Herrmann. He went on to add two more kills and got an ace, before an Altoona attack error ended the first set, 25-13. The Lions finished with 14 kills on 23 attempts with one errors.
The second set looked much like the first. Behrend opened with a 10-4 run to force an Altoona timeout. The lead grew to double digits after an Anthony Sprentz (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) ace at 19-9. Altoona got within six at 22-16, but after a timeout the Behrend Lions won the final three points at 25-16.
The Altoona Lions were able to take the next two sets to force the decisive fifth set.
With the game tied at 8-all, the Behrend Lions won four straight points with kills from Hildebrand and Herrmann along with a pair of attack errors for a 12-8 advantage. Altoona got one more point on a kill from Dan Downs, but JP Goodsel (Corry, PA/Corry) and Joey Reynolds (Saegertown, PA/Saegertown) knocked in a kill each for the victory at 15-9.
Sprentz tallied 52 assists and nine digs, while Reynolds hit .368 with 10 kills and added four blocks.
Behrend returns to action on Tuesday at Medaille at 7 p.m.