Men's Volleyball Goes Undefeated at New Jersey City

NEW JERSEY CITY, NJ – The Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team went undefeated in three matches, sweeping Gallaudet and Lehman 3-0 while posting a 3-2 victory over the hosts New Jersey City on Saturday.

Josh Oertly (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) had 29 kills and 12 blocks over three matches, while Colin Ingram (Hilliard, OH/Hilliard Darby) registered 76 assists.

Behrend started the back-to-back matches with a 25-11, 25-10 and 25-5 win over Gallaudet. Oertly led the way with nine kills and Eric Theiss (Plum, PA/Plum) added six kills. Ingram had 18 assists on 32 total team kills.

The Lions never trailed against Gallaudet, jumping out to a 19-7 lead on a Theiss ace in the first set. The next six out of nine points belonged to Behrend for a 25-11 win. The second set was much the same. The Lions went on a 15-1 run to seal the victory, while only giving up five set points in the third to head into the second match with momentum.

In the second match against New Jersey City, Behrend had four players in double-figure kills in a 25-21, 21-25, 29-31, 31-29 and 15-8 win. Grant Kocher (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) paced the team with 19 kills, 11 digs and seven blocks.  Nathan Steele (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) had 14 kills and nine digs, and Ingram had a season-best 32 assists in the five-set match. The Lions went down two sets, but rallied back to win the final two.

In the fourth set, New Jersey City had a chance at five match points. Behrend fought back with kills from Oertly at 25-all, Kocher at 26-all, Karl at 27-all and Steele at 28-all. An attack error by NJCU gave the Lions match point, but an attack by the Behrend tied it once again. Steele knocked down a pair of kills for the final two points to keep the Lions alive and force a fifth set.

Behrend took a 4-1 lead to start the fifth and did not look back for the victory. At 9-7, the Lions won four straight points on Oertly's serve to make it 13-7. Karl's kill set up the final point and Behrend won on an attack error.

The Lions went straight into their third match with Lehman, winning 25-12, 25-15 and 25-19. Oertly finished with 10 kills and seven blocks. Ingram completed the day 26 more assists and Kocher tallied nine kills, three digs and three blocks.

Behrend returns to action on Wednesday against Nazareth. Match begins at 7 p.m. in the Junker Center.