ERIE, Pa. – In their first year as a varsity sport, the Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team clinched a playoff spot in the United Volleyball Conference (UVC) Tournament with quarterfinals action on Saturday, April 14 at New York University.

Playing in a conference with six nationally-ranked teams, the Lions (8-16, 4-7 UVC) earned the No. 8 seed and will face sixth-ranked and top-seeded NYU (19-6, 11-0 UVC) at 3:30 p.m. The Violets won the UVC regular-season title and earned the rights to host the championship weekend with an undefeated mark in conference play.

In their only meeting this season, Behrend put up a good fight but fell to NYU, 3-0 (25-23, 25-14, 25-22).

The Lions are led by Grant Kocher (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) with 201 kills and 104 digs, while Evan Fullerton (Ambridge, PA/Ambridge) dishes out 5.81 assists per set.

Behrend will compete in the first-ever Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) Championship this weekend at No. 1 seed Medaille. The third-seeded Lions will take on No. 2 D'Youville on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the semifinals.