Lions Get Revenge On D'Youville

ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State Behrend men's volleyball squad used a total team effort to blank D'Youville 3-0 in United Volleyball Conference (UVC) action on Wednesday night.

The first two games went in to extra points with the Lions (2-10, 2-3 UVC) pulling out the 29-27 and 34-32 victories, before sealing the win with a 25-19 game three. Grant Kocher (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) had a team-high 16 kills and seven digs, while Nate Steele (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) added nine kills.

Chris Temple and Rob Dykeman were in double-digit kills for the Spartans (4-6, 2-3 UVC) with 17 and 10, respectively.

Behrend had the momentum from game one's two-point win to do it again in game two for a 2-0 lead in the match, eventually earning its second win and avenging a 3-2 loss to D'Youville a week ago.

Two kills by Kocher and a service ace by Evan Fullerton (Ambridge, PA/Ambridge) put the Lions ahead 16-11 in the first game. The Spartans used an 11-6 run to take their first lead of the match at 23-22. From here, it was a see-saw battle until the final two points thanks to a kill by Steele and a D'Youville attack error.

In a thrilling game two, neither team had a lead by more than four points. After Temple recorded a kill for the Spartans to make it 17-16 in favor of Behrend, each team kept alternating points until Tory Larson (Penn Hills, PA/Homeschooled) served the last two points and the Lions taking advantage of two attack errors for a 34-32 win.

With a two-game lead, Behrend only trailed once in the third set and finished the match with six-point lead.  Steele knocked in three kills and Kocher led with seven kills, including two in the final three points.

Fullerton finished with 24 assists and Colin Ingram (Hilliard, OH/Hilliard Darby) had 18 helpers. Anthony Capizzi (Pittsburgh, PA/Pittsburgh Central Catholic) came up with some big blocks at crucial points in game two, ending with four blocks on the night.

The Lions return to action tomorrow against D'Youville. Match time is 7 p.m.