ERIE, Pa. – It was a career night for the Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team and even better finish with a 3-2 victory over Thiel in non-conference action on Tuesday night in the Junker Center.
The Lions (13-8) earned their second straight win over the Tomcats (12-16) in five sets (23-25, 25-20, 25-17, 225-27, 16-14), giving Behrend its first winning season in program history and a winning record at home with a 5-3 mark.
Grant Kocher (McMurray, PA/Peters Township) had a third of the Lions' offense, tying a season-best 20 kills and recording a career-high 17 digs and four aces. Ty Sheehan (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton), who moved from outside hitter to libero for the match, was instrumental on defense with a career-best and game-high 20 digs.
Setter Colin Ingram (Hilliard, OH/Hilliard Darby) delivered 55 assists, surpassing his career best of 49 assists in the previous match against the Tomcats this season.
Thiel had three players in double-digit kills. John Turner led with 16 kills and had a .517 hitting percentage. Dylan Lasher ended with a double-double thanks to 16 digs and 10 kills.
The match kept viewers at the edge of their seat with the Lions rallying back from one-set down to take a 2-1 lead and then to see Thiel earn the fourth-set victory in extra sets to force a game five.
In addition to the previous match, the first set was enough indication of how this contest was going to play out. Point-for-point and only three points most separating the two teams, the Tomcats managed to get kills from Turner and Tyrieq Patton on the final two points to win, 25-23.
The Lions only trailed once in the second set (9-8). Behrend grabbed its largest lead at 19-15 off a kill from Kocher, but Thiel got within two at 22-20. The next three points belonged to the Lions for the win. The first off a service error and then Antonio Vazquez (San Juan, Puerto Rico/UHS) ace and kill from Nathan Steele (Cranberry Township, PA/Seneca Valley) to even the match at 1-all.
Behrend hit .320 in the third set and never let the Tomcats into the game to get an eight-point victory and a 2-1 lead in the match. Kocher had four kills, two aces and two digs. The aces came back-to-back for a 20-14 lead, giving the Lions momentum toward the end of the set.
Thiel fought back in the fourth and held off three match points by Behrend to force the extra set. At 24-22 thanks to a kill from Vazquez, the Tomcats came out of the timeout and earned the point on an attack by Turner.
Thiel remained hot after the Lions took a timeout and tied it with an ace by Charlie Tindall, however, his second serve landed in the net to give the Lions their final match point. Consecutive kills and an attack error by Behrend put the fourth set in the Tomcats hands, 27-25.
Down by three points at 11-8, Kocher responded with his 19th kill of the game and then served two straight aces to even it at 11-all. Vazquez and Josh Oertly (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) made a huge block at 13-12. The teams went back and forth for the next few points until Ingram got the kill off a block error to make it 15-14 and an attack error by Thiel sealed the victory for Behrend.
Steele tallied 15 kills and Vazquez added 10 kills on the night. Oertly made seven blocks to go with six kills and Kevin Smith (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin) contributed eight kills and three blocks.
The Lions return to action on Saturday against SUNYIT at Cazenovia. Matches are at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
