Men's Volleyball Downs Bard; Falls to No. 9 NYU

HUDSON, NY – The Penn State Behrend men's volleyball team recorded their first United Volleyball Conference (UV) win with a 3-0 victory over Bard by scores of 25-16, 25-16 and 25-12. The Lions (8-9, 1-4 UVC) fell in the nightcap to No. 9 NYU, 3-0.

Berhend held a 41-22 advantage in kills against Bard (7-14, 0-4 UVC) in the opening match, before dropping a 25-16, 25-17 and 26-24 decision to the Violets (8-5, 3-1 UVC).

Eric Theiss (Plum, PA/Plum) and Ty Sheehan (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) tallied double-digits in kills and digs for two matches. Theiss produced 18 kills and 17 digs, while Sheehan added 17 kills and 16 digs. Sheehan is now six digs away from 500 for his career.

The Lions hit .369 in the opener and were led by Trenton Munk's (Baden, PA/Ambridge) 11 kills with two errors on 17 attempts (.529 hitting percentage). Thiess and Sheehan both had nine kills and nine digs.

In the first set, Behrend was on target with 15 kills with five coming from Sheehan. Sheehan's third kill of the set preceded a Bard timeout with the Lions holding a 14-9 lead. Behrend was not committing errors but forcing them including two in a row for a 21-14 advantage. Following a service error by Bard, Sheehan secured the win with his final kill at 25-16.

It was Theiss' turn in the second set to lead the Lions and get them a 2-0 edge in the match. A 10-5 lead quickly went to 20-10 behind a pair of kills from Munk. The final offensive points by Behrend were kills from Munk and Kevin Kaplon (Rural Valley, PA / West Shamokin) for a 25-16 win.

The Lions only allowed 12 points in the third set while only committing one error on 26 attempts. Josh Oertly (Cochranton, PA/Cochranton) served six straight points, getting an ace for match point. Behrend won an attack error for the conference victory.

Ninth-ranked NYU had three players with double-digit kills, led by Nick Benson with 14, to defeat Behrend 3-0. After falling in the first two sets, the Lions had match-point presented in the third set but the Violets managed to squeak out the three-set win.

The entire third set was close. Behrend held a two-point lead on two occasions and had match point off a service error at 24-23. Our own service error combined with two kills from NYU gave the Violets the win at 26-24.

Mitch Farabaugh (North Huntingdon, PA/Norwin) ended the day with 52 assists combined. Munk finished with 17 kills and seven blocks.

The Lions return to action tomorrow at CCNY, before traveling to Lancaster Bible on Monday. Matches are at 12 p.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.