Seniors Dominate Against Altoona; Ingram Reaches 1,000 Assist Mark

ERIE, Pa.  – The Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team defeated Penn State Altoona 3-0 in an Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) match on Sunday afternoon in the Junker Center.

Celebrating senior day, Nathan Steele (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) and Grant Kocher (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) each led with eight digs to help the Lions (12-8, 6-1 AMCC) shut out Altoona 25-12, 25-16, 25-15.

Senior Colin Ingram (Hilliard, OH/Hilliard Darby) tallied a game-high 15 assists to reach 1,000 helpers for his career, while Kevin Smith (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin) led with three blocks.

Behrend only allowed 14 kills by the Lions in the three sets, including just four kills in the first and final games. Ty Sheehan's (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) serving gave the Lions a quick 9-4 lead in the first set, earning an ace and getting help with a kill from Smith. Behrend never gave Altoona a chance to get into the game and pulled away for a 25-12 win on another Smith kill at the end.

Steele followed in Sheehan's footsteps when it came to serving in game two. With the Lions holding a small 9-8 lead, Steele knocked down a kill to get the serve and reeled off two aces to extend the lead to 14-8. Behrend took advantage of three straight attack errors combined with kills from Josh Oertly (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) and Kocher to make ti 19-10. Steele added two more kills down the stretch and Kocher sealed game two, 25-16.

In the third set, the Lions only allowed three points in the first 16 of the game for the largest lead of the game at 13-3. Behrend never backed down to capture the match with a 25-15 third-set victory.

Kocher also led with seven digs and Oertly finished with seven kills and two blocks, hitting .462 for the game.

The Lions return to action on Tuesday against Thiel. Match begins at 7 p.m.